Kai's Secret
by Knight of the Wolves
Summary: Kai has a secret that he's never told a single person, not even Miwa. This secret may or may not be an occuring experience that could either result in life or death. What happens when Morikawa comes over for a school project and witnesses this secret of Kai's? Will he choose to try and stop it or leave him alone? What if his parents never died, but was forced to say they did die?


******Hey guys! I have NO idea what made me think of this idea but I just randomly thought of it. And I for some reason am actually writing(typing) it now. This is the LONGEST one chapter story I have ever done! USually it's just a couple thousand words not over 24,000 like this one. Please don't rage if it's not good! And warning it is a sad story but I promise it gets happy in the end! AGain this is just a random idea! Oh yeah this is my first fanfic that has POV's in it, and I haven't done POV's before in any story soo…. We'll see how this turns out! NO rage please. Read and Review, thanks!**

(Kai's POV)

Oh no! I'm late! Great Dad's going to kill me now! And I'm NOT Exaggerating there! I run as quickly as I can, gathering up by books for the homework I have to do, on the way. Oh, yeah I should probably introduce myself. I'm Toshiki but everyone just calls me Kai. Don't ask why they call me Kai. My friend Miwa just accidentally said it while I over at his house and he was trying to talk with food in his mouth, and the nickname just stuck. Occasionally they would call me Toshiki Kai or Toshiki but that's not very often. Mostly with people who have heard of me from Cardfighting call me that. Anyways, I seriously have to get back home before my father kills me.

I run past many classmates and other students, and I am out the door before the bell even rings for us to be dismissed. Today school was let out late because they needed more help with the school carnival set up. They had my class and a few other classes help set up and build stations. My job was actually building which I prefered to do much better than just sitting around and painting or something. So I wasn't on the ground most of the day, I was in the air on top of a carnival game frame with pretty much just a hammer, nails, some screws, and a screwdriver. The other tools were somewhere on the ground, if I needed them. I don't know why they chose me to do that job but I didn't argue. They thought I did a good job at building so they kept me at that. But now and days I barely know anything, unless it has to do with Vanguard. I run quickly, weaving in and out of people who are walking on the sidewalk. I feel bad for just barging along like that but I really do have to get home. It wasn't long afterwards that I hear someone in front of me call me.

"Hey, Kai! Buddy, where you going? Aren't you coming to Card Capital today?" I look up to see my good friend Miwa. He smiled and waved at me when I looked up. But I didn't have time to stop and talk, let alone go to Card Capital. Seriously, though, if it were my choice I would go to Card Capital with the others every day but unfortunately for me I can't do that!

"S-Sorry, Miwa! I have to get home!" I quickly call over my shoulder as I pick up my pace. I run a little further until I notice someone is following me and is now running beside me. It's Miwa. I turned my head and look at him while we ran. He smiled one of his 'innocent always cheerful' smiles. He puts a hand on my shoulder and puts force into it to stop me. WHich it did. Seeing him start to follow me, I start to panic.

"Come on, Kai. You haven't gone to Card Capital in the past couple of days. Why?" Miwa asked.

"I-I just… Look Miwa I can't explain right now! And you can't follow me either. I'm not mad at you or anything. Just please don't follow me just this one time! Please! I just have to get home! Or else my father will…" I say sounding desperate, which I was, but I cut myself short. My eyes widen slightly as I caught what I just said. Hopefully Miwa didn't notice… Unfortunately he did notice… yay just my luck.

"Wait what? Your father? I thought you lived alone." Miwa tilted his head in confusion. OH great what do I say now. I nervously scratch the back of my neck. I look around not knowing what to say, until my eyes land on my watch. Seeing the time I start to panic again.

"Uh, yeah! I'm sorry Miwa! I can't come today, I'll try to come later ok!" I say quickly and dashed off before giving Miwa a chance to reply. I didn't want to look back at him. But now he probably thinks I'm a jerk. I'm SOO late! Dad's going to definitely kill me now!

I run quicker than I did before and made a run for my home. Thankfully I can now see my house. But I can't slow down now. If anything I have to go faster. I bet he's waiting right at the door for me or something. Finally, after what seems like forever, I'm at my house. I run behind the house and come in through the back door. I quickly take off my shoes and grab my bag and try to go up to my room without being caught. BUT guess who was waiting for me at the staircase… Dad… I pretend I don't notice him and start up the stairs.

"Toshiki!" I hear my Dad call when I'm not even half way up the staircase. I flinch at the sound of his booming voice. I slowly turn around.

"Y-yes Dad?" I hesitantly say. He narrows his eyes at me and approaches me.

"You're late." Dad spat at me.

"I know I am. There's a reas…" I start to say but he interrupts me.

"So why are you late? You were supposed to be here ten minutes ago!" He starts to raise his voice. I do my best to stay calm and not freak out. But believe me I'm freaking out so much on the inside right now it isn't funny.

"The school let out late because they needed help with building and set up for the carnival they're having." I say choosing my words carefully, but there really isn't any way of hiding the fear in my voice.

"What type of an excuse is that!" My Dad sneered. He finally came up to me. WIth this he took his hand and grabbed my right wrist in his strong grip as I attempted to go up the stairs.

(Miwa's POV)

I stood there as saw Kai running. Wait, Kai running? That doesn't seem right. He never runs, but whatev. Probably excited about something. But he looks… I don't know how to put it. Scared? No, can't be. Kai doesn't get scared. Urgent, maybe? I don't know. Say, he hasn't been to Card Capital for a while now. Hmm, I wonder why. I thought since he has a better relationship with everyone that he would be coming to hang out with us more often. I don't know, it could just be me wanting to hang around Kai. I stand there and wait for Kai. Usually when he's walking somewhere I would say something and he would stop and we would talk for a while then start to walk and talk. I watch as Kai races forward.

"Hey, Kai! Buddy, where you going? Aren't you coming to Card Capital today?" I say to him as he comes up. But much to my surprise he keeps running. Only saying something over his shoulder as he ran. I didn't really hear him so I decided to come with him. I ran to catch up with him and was soon running beside him. It took him a while to notice I was with him but he eventually saw me. But the thing was when he saw me it looked like he was getting more tense and anxious. "Come on, Kai. You haven't gone to Card Capital in the past couple of days. Why?" I ask curiously. I really want to know. Everyone else at the shop are wondering as well, and you know me! Always curious… occasionally getting me into trouble. Hehe.

"I-I just… Look Miwa I can't explain right now! And you can't follow me either. I'm not mad at you or anything. Just please don't follow me just this one time! Please! I just have to get home! Or else my father will…" Kai began but never finished. Wait a second. His father? I thought he said that he lost his parents when he was a kid. How… Ok now I'm really curious. I cock my head to the side inn a result of confusion. Kai seemed to notice that he had said something he shouldn't have. All these years, that's one of the things I know for sure. I can tell when he has, to him, accidentally slipped at saying something, or when he's trying to hide something, or even when he just is uncomfortable. Well, now that I think about it. He seems to be all of those right now.

"Wait what? Your father? I thought you lived alone." I say wanting to know what he was up to. Kai nervously scratched the back of his neck and looked away awkwardly. It was obvious he wasn't ready to give an answer to that question. But why? So many questions! I see him look around like he's on the look out or he's being very cautious of his surroundings. Then I see him look down and take a glance at his watch. His eyes widen and he becomes anxious again. But more intense this time.

"Uh, yeah! I'm sorry Miwa! I can't come today, I'll try to come later ok!" Kai calls over his shoulder as he suddenly dashes off. I don't have any time to reply so I'm just kind of awkwardly left there. Wow, Kai. This is definitely not like you. I shrug and turn the opposite way. I figured he was busy so I will just go to Card Capital by myself again today. Who knows I'll probably bump into Morikawa or Izaki or Misaki or someone on the way… Man, I really miss walking to the shop with Kai. He's like a brother to me. I wonder if he has any brothers? Or sisters?... Why did I just ask that, that was totally random! HA! Nah! There's no way he has any siblings. I walked along enjoying everything around me as I walked. Pretty soon, guess what, there was some of the other guys walking to the shop as well. I smiled and I ran up to them. They greeted me and we just walked and took our time to get there. We talked about so many random things, but knowing Morikawa, that's a normal conversation for him. But no matter how much we walked and talked I still couldn't shake the feeling. The feeling of worry and something else. Something was definitely not right. I don't understand why I'm feeling this way. I just… I for some reason don't feel like I'm safe or more like Kai's safe. I don't know why I'm getting that thought. What could be happening to him that's making him so jittery like this. UGH why am I worrying so much all of the sudden!

It wasn't long, well to me at least, until we were at the shop. Everyone went ahead and went into the shop. But they asked me if it was ok for them to go ahead. I gave them a 'sure' and let them go. That's what they usually did anyway. It would be just like all the other days. I actually find it kind of amusing how excited they get. I mean, I'm not saying I don't get excited over Vanguard, I mean, seriously. Who wouldn't? Anywho they went ahead and I took my time. Pretty soon I was at the door. But I didn't go in. I just stood there looking at the ground in deep thought. Thinking about Kai and what was bothering him. Why he was on edge and anxious. I hope he'll tell me tomorrow. After a while I finally went into the shop. But when I came in I found Misaki, Izaki, Kamui, Emi, and Aichi all looking at me with concerned faces. Morikawa and Kourin were in the middle of a cardfight and didn't notice me come in. But boy did everyone else notice.

"What? Something wrong with you guys?" I ask looking at all the concerned faces.

"Are you alright?" Aichi asked. I give him a weird look. It was a sudden questsion.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Why?" I answer.

"We saw you come up to the door but you never came in. You just stayed there looking at the ground and you had this concentrated look. And you just stood out there for almost half an hour. Aichi and Kamui even came up to you and tried to say hello and get your attention but you didn't even flinch." Misaki said concerned. I don't know what to say. Was I really out there that long and did I really accidentally ignore Aichi and Kamui? I suddenly get very frustrated at myself. "What's wrong?" Misaki asked seeing that my sudden change.

"It's just…" I start but get held back on my words as I keep seeing Kai's image and how different he was acting, and looking. I shake my head to get rid of the images.

"Just what?" Kourin asked. She and Morikawa finally got done with their cardfight and I guess saw me suddenly change.

"It's Kai." I sigh. I feel Misaki get a little more alert when I say this. "Something's wrong with him." I finish.

"What do you mean something's wrong? Did something happen?" Morikawa asked coming up to the rest of the group.

"I mean, I was walking and I saw Kai running. I said hi and tried to get his attention but he just kept running and said something to me as he ran but I didn't catch what he said. So I ran up with him and he didn't notice me running along until a little while afterwards. I stopped him and asked him what was wrong. He just got really nervous and fidgety. Then he said something about his father. He looked down at his watch. And, after when I thought he had calmed down enough, he started to freak out again. He just rushed off right after looking at the time and said he would try to make it some other time." I explain. I could see that everyone was taking in the information and thinking through it. Misaki probably looked more in thought and particularly worried than anyone else. Other than me. I probably look so stupid right now.

"Well, if I know Kai, I know he isn't the one to be fidgeting and or get nervous." Izaki stated. He was right. Never, once in my life, have I seen Kai like this. The only time was when he had told me about losing his parents. He said that I was the only one he trusted with the information at the time. But now all of us know, and no I didn't tell anyone. Kai must have said something or was talking to himself and others heard him and just spread rumors and gossips about it.

"Hey guys I have an idea." Aichi said. We all turn to him and listen. "Well, Miwa, don't you see him go past a few buildings on his way back home?" Aichi asked me. I don't know why he is asking this but I just went with it. So I nod. "Well how about we all meet up tomorrow beside one of those buildings. We can wait for Kai and when he comes around we can stop him and ask him what's wrong." Aichi suggested. I was surprised. I didn't know Aichi could come up with a plan like that. Sure he is a great leader and is always one for strategy but he has never come up with a plan to stop someone and ask them something in an alley way. I have to admit it's a pretty good idea… I guess it's just the fact that it's going to be in an alley that's just a little creepy.

"Sounds good to me." I shrugged going with the idea. Soon everyone else had agreed to it. I was about to say something else but Shin came in.

"Sorry kids. I gonna have to close up shop now." Shin says.

"Huh? How can it be time to close already?" I asked looking at him.

"Well when you're standing outside or in here doing something time comes and goes just like that." Kamui said. Oh that's right. I didn't come in for half an hour. But seriously did the time go that quickly? Anywyas. I look down at my watch and see that it is about time that he closes the shop and the time everyone goes home. I say goodbye to everyone and leave.

The whole way home I kept thinking of Aichi's plan to talk to Kai. Hopefully it works. And before I knew it I was back at my house. I entered the door and go upstairs to my room. I get out my books and start my homework. Ugh. High School always has annoying homework. I try my best to concentrate but I can't. I can't concentrate over the sound of my parents, my dog, and my sister all being very loud, DOWN stairs! The walls of this place are so thin I can hear everything they are saying and it's very distracting. But oh well, I have to live with that every day so… It takes about two hours to do all of my homework. Let's just say I had to do, two lessons in trigonometry because I missed that class, which was the first class of the day, due to traffic issues, a lesson in Physics, and a five page report. I'm actually surprised I got done when I did. But i've had worse. Well, now that that's over I can finally go to bed. I'm so tired right now. I get up from my desk and grab my night clothes and change into them. I do the usual night routine. Brush my teeth, wash my face, and go to bed.

(Kai's POV)

The next morning I wake up, my body stiff. I see that I'm back in my bed. I take some time to look over myself. Unfortunately I find any bruises, not too serious, but my wrist is killing me. I get up with a groan as my stiff body is being worked. Ugh I hope I don't have to build anything today. I would probably drop all the tools or something like that. *sigh* I should probably do something about my hand. OH great! And it has to my writing hand doesn't it! Well I guess I'll be going lefty for a little while. I walk away from my bed and gather up my uniform. I go to the bathroom and put it on and get ready. I do my hair, brush my teeth, make sure my uniform's on correctly, and leave. But on my way out of the room I realize what time it was. I look at my alarm clock. What I see confuses me.

"Three o'clock?" I ask to myself as I walk over to my clock. I sit on my bed and grab my clock. I look at it and sure enough, there it read three o'clock. "But I could have sworn it just said six… Maybe that would explain why I didn't hear the alarm go off. It doesn't go off for another three hours… OH crap! I just realized I forgot about my homework last night!" I said to myself as I quickly got out my books. I walk over to my door and flick on the light switch. The light suddenly coming, almost seemed blinding. Especially this early in the morning. Maybe I just told myself that I forgot about my homework and that's why I woke up so early.

I end up sitting at my desk the rest of the three hours doing homework. I kept dozing off and often found myself waking up with my face in the book. But I had to push past that and get it done. I'll probably get a bad grade on it. I can't exactly focus that well at the moment. The aching in my body and my hand keeps distracting me. Though I was able to get through it. Thankfully I was able to get done before six. But it was only by a few minutes. I took that time to pack up my books instead of just carrying them all the way to school. Usually I would have to just carry them instead of putting them in my bag. Because Dad is always pushing me to get to school. He rushes me every morning to get to school. So I try to sneak something to eat and then leave before he can get a chance to rush me. But most mornings, now and days, I would have to go without anything to eat in the morning.

I sighed as I ran a hand through my hair. Only to pull back my hand suddenly. I felt a small pain in my head. Confused, I go to my bathroom and look in the mirror. I don't see anything wrong. But just to be sure I take my hand and pull away some of the hair that hangs over my forehead. And there I see it. There's a pretty good size bruise on my forehead. I stand there for a second staring at the bruise. I shake my head and sigh as I brush the hair back over my forehead. I can't let anyone see that. IF they do they'll get curious and start flooding me with questions. Wow how many things do I have to be careful with today? My forehead, the bruises on my arms, and my hand… How on Earth am I supposed to hide my hand! I guess I can just keep it in my pocket. That will look weird but it's the only thing I can do.

I look at the clock and see it's finally six. I grab my bag and quickly leave. I don't even go for food because I see my father in the kitchen drinking and reading the newspaper at the table. I get out of the house and start to school. I run a ways and when I get to the cross road I would slow down to a walk. Everyday I run about half way to school then after I'm a ways from home I slow down. It was a little harder today on account of my body being so stiff but I managed. On my way to school I stick my right hand in my pocket and look at the ground as I walk. I really hope no one notices my hand. AFter looking at the ground and and walking, I soon find myself at the entrance to the school. I stand there and stare at the sign of the school above the doors. Other students walk by chatting with one another, some chase each other, and some just walk. Me. I'm just standing there staring. None of my friends are here yet so I can't talk with them. I sigh as I walk forward. But behind me I hear a car pull up in front of the school and hear the car doors slam. Curious, I turn around to see what the commotion was. My eyes widened at what I saw coming to the entrance… Dad. I feel myself start to shake a little. I just stand there and look. I can't… Stop that Toshiki! Stop it! You can't be thinking of other stuff right now, just go! I quickly swing open the big school doors and run inside. I run through the empty halls and I look back. I see my father turn the corner and head the way I'm headed. I stiffen and turn back and proceed running. I turn a corner one more time and look for a place where I can possibly go to. ANd what do you know. There a few feet down the hall was the janitors closet. Ok wait, am I seriously going to hide in a janitor's closet? I then hear footsteps coming down the hall. Yep, I'm hiding in the closet! I run for the closet and open the door and quickly close it. I let out a breath of relief as I hear the footsteps go by the door and down the hall. I sigh and back up and lean agaisnt the wall.

"Um, Can I help you?" Someone says beside me. I jump in surprise and spin around and faced the guy. Only to see it was in fact the janitor with a raised eyebrow… Well… This just got awkward.

"O-oh hi! I, uh,... Sorry I didn't mean to invade or anything!" I say quickly. The janitor chuckles. Thank goodness he isn't mad at me.

"It's alright. Don't sweat it kid… Say, aren't you Toshiki? Toshiki Kai?" The janitor asked with a smile. I'm taken back by the question a little. How does he know me? I know he works here and probably sees me in the halls but how does he know my name? ANd my real name to clarify.

"Yes I am." I say looking him up and down. "And who might you be?" I ask. He seemed to get a very excited look on his face. Geez. He sure is cheerful for a janitor. He chuckles slightly.

"Well then. I'm guessing you don't exactly remember me do you?" The janitor asks. I give him a weird look. Have I seriously met this guy before? Maybe if he told me then I'd remember. I shake my head. "My name's Isamu. I'm your mother's older brother. And your uncle." Isamu chuckled. My eyes widen. Isamu?… That's right. Isamu! Uncle Isamu! How could I have forgot him!? A smile spreads on my face. "Haha I see you remember now, huh? I figured you wouldn't recognize me quite yet. I haven't seen you for so many years now… Well I saw you. You didn't really see me. You were always walking with your friends and talking. I've been wanting to talk to you for a long time now. I mean, I haven't talked to you for years and I just wanted to talk again, like we used to." Isamu smiled.

"Yeah I guess it has been a while hasn't it." I chuckle shrugging playfully. Isamu's smile suddenly turns to a slight frown as he saw me shrug. That just made me uncomfortable and I scratched the back of my neck nervously.

"Toshiki." Isamu began. I look at him and he continues. "What happened to your hand?" He asks. I suddenly feel myself stiffen. I quickly look down and saw that my hand was no longer in my pocket. Then I look down at my hand. There it was visible and you could see the bandage wrap thing very clearly. My sleave had fallen down slightly when I scratched my neck and it showed more of the bandage. I quickly shove my hand back in my pocket. But that only put force on my wrist which made it hurt wildly again. I wince as it is forced into my pocket. Isamu walks up to me and places a hand on my shoulder. I look up at him. "Toshiki, what did you do to your hand?" Isamu asked with all seriousness. No matter what, whenever he was with me he always made sure I was ok and he always looked after me. But had fun and made everything else fun and enjoyable at the same time. I knew I couldn't hide my hand from him. But I didn't know how to say to him what had happened or how to make up a cover up. But right then he surprised me. "It was your father wasn't it?" He asked quieter than he had been speaking before. He hit the nail right on the head. I gasp silently and my eyes widen.

"H-how did you know?" I asked completely surprised. He sighed.

"Because, I know he's mean and abusive." Isamu said.

"Really? I thought it was only me… I know that's the reason why I'm not with Mom right now. Because of him." I say partially quietly.

"He didn't use to be like that though. Before you were born and he used to be very nice and considerate to everyone. He was a very wise person. But then he went out one night with a group of his friends and they forced him to do stuff that he couldn't even imagine. And after that night he was completely changed. He started to abuse you and your mom. That's the reason why you were separated from her. IN court he threatened to do stuff and ended up forcing them to give him the right to keep you and not your mom. And I objected to that but they had no choice. Your father was just too… wild you could say." He finished. I knew that story already but I didn't care. Isamu was the only one who knew about it. Him and Mom. "Here let me see your hand." Isamu said softly. I take my hand out of my pocket and show it to him. He took his gentle hands and wrapped the bandage. AFter the bandage was off I watched as he examined it. He used one hand to hold the hand up and used the other to slowly move my hand around. Pain shot through my wrist and hand as he moved it. I gritted my teeth as he moved my hand around. "Hmm…. Can you move your fingers?" He asked looking at my hand. I gave it a try but it hurt to move them. He sighed. He walked over to his bag of stuff and dug around in it. I try to see inside the bag as he looked and pushed stuff around but I can't see anything.

"What are you looking for?" I ask still trying to see inside the bag.

"Your hand and wrist are strained pretty badly. I had a sprained hand/wrist one time and I had a brace for it. But that was a while ago and I never took the brace out of my bag. Now if I can only find it I can wrap your hand back up properly and let you have the brace." Isamu said as he intently looked through his bag. I was shocked for a moment. I didn't know if that was a coincidence or what. But I didn't argue. Anything to get my hand to heal. "Found it." He said after about a minute of rummaging through his bag. He walked back over and took the wrap I had originally had on it before. Gently but firmly he positioned my hand and wrapped it. Then he took the brace and slipped it on and secured it over the thin wrap. "There you go. That should do it." Isamu said finishing. I looked at my hand and the black brace now surrounding it.

"Thanks, Uncle Isamu." I sigh. He smiles. Right then we heard to bell right throughout the school.

"Looks like you have to get going." He says to me. I nod. "Hey, come and see me again ok. Here. This is my number if you ever want to call and talk ok." He said as he pulled a piece of paper from his pocket with his phone number, address, and other contact information. I smile and put it in my pocket. "Now you better keep that sleeve pulled down and your hand in your pocket if you don't want anyone to know." He smiled and pointed to my new hand brace. I give a small laugh and pull the sleeve down over the brace and put it in my pocket. I grab my bag and open the door.

"Thanks again. I'll see you later." I say over my shoulder. He gives an ok and I go to leave for my class. I walk a little ways down the hall and look out the window. I was thankful to see my father outside and getting in his car. WHat could he have possibly wanted here? I don't know. I should probably get to homeroom now… Oh yeah. I missed homeroom yesterday afternoon. The teacher will probably want to know why I wasn't there… That's what it always is like I guess. Anyways I find my room and enter it and join everyone else in sitting in our seats and talking. And of course Morikawa is over there bragging about nonsense again. Izaki is just sitting there listening to Morikawa go on and on about randomness. He rolls his eyes and puts his head in one hand making his head turn away from Morikawa. I can tell he is starting to get tired of him bragging and being so stuck up all the time. I watch as Izaki just looks around with a bored yet annoyed expression. I sit in my seat and just watch in amusement. Izaki's eyes soon land on me. He now sees me looking at him. Izaki sighed and rolled his eyes gesturing to Morikawa. I chuckled and nodded agreeing with him. He was practically saying he was getting very tired of him going on and on and on. And I agree with him.

"Morning class! Time for attendance so get in your seats!" Our teacher barges into the room and gives orders. Everyone out of their seats quickly made it to their seats and sat there. The teacher got out his clip board and started to call out names. There was a series of 'here', 'present', or anything else you could say to let him know you were there. Finally he got to me. "Toshiki Kai!" He called out.

"I'm here." I say plainly. He looks at me and marks the paper. He got back up and cleared his throat.

"Ok class. I have an assignment for you all. You all will be in partners of two for this project. I already have the groups picked out." The teacher announced. There were groans and there were some yays. I didn't chant either. I really could care less. He started to call out the groups. I'm really not listening to him. I'll only pay attention to this if he says my name… Which he did say next. "Toshiki you and Morikawa will be in a group." I look at him like he's crazy. Knowing Morikawa he will make me do the whole project and just put his name on it! This is not fair! I look over at Morikawa who smirked… Yep I know what that means… Well Toshiki, I guess you better get studying. I sigh and rest my head on my left hand and stare out the window.

(Morikawa's POV)

I sat there and listened to the teacher call out the groups. UGH when is this guy going to say my group. I want to know who I'm with. I hope it's someone smart.

"Toshiki you and Morikawa will be in a group." I hear the teacher call. Wait I'm with Kai? WHy Kai? Well, I guess he is smart. Eh, he's better than nothing. I look over at Kai who is just as surprised as I am. That's actually pretty funny seeing Kai shocked. I smirk at his surprised expression. It's hilarious! Kai then looks over at me. He stares at me for a few seconds. Then he just sighs and puts his head in his left hand. Geez, I wonder what's up with him? Hmmm… Maybe this is what Miwa meant by Kai was acting weird. Well, now that I look closer he does look like he has a lot on his mind. He's actually not his old self. That easy going, too cool acting, thoughtless guy I see everyday… That isn't who I'm seeing. This time I can actually see the difference that Miwa was talking about. I think I did see him kind of edgy yesterday before we left school. I see Kai just sitting there staring out the window obviously in deep thought. His head in his left hand and his right hand fingered the brim of his shirt… wait a second. What's that? On Kai's hand? I strain my eyes to see what was on Kai's hand. Maybe it's just shadows on his hand and I'm just over curious. That's probably it. "Alright class everyone take out a piece of paper. I'm going to tell you the required materials for this project." The teacher calls out.

I bend down to my bag and get some paper and a pencil. I look up to see Kai doing the same thing but instead of using both hands like usual he was only using his left. He struggled to get the bag unbuckled but finally managed. He sighed after he finally got it open. Digging through his bag with one hand he was able to get a pencil out and a piece of paper. But the paper was wrinkled because he had to grab it and practically crush the paper to get a grip on it to pull it out. "Ok you will need to have a poster board, it needs to have some sort of nature themed decorations and background, and the information has to be a debate… hint hint it should be something about nature because of the theme of the board." The teacher said telling us what to write down. I write down the information and soon can put my pencil down. I look over once again at Kai. I watch him as he struggles to write with his left hand. My eyebrows frown, why is he writing with his left? He's a righty not a lefty. "Once you got that written down you can go find a spot in the room and you and your partner can start to plan out what you would like to do." The teacher announced. Pretty much all of the class stood up after that and went to spots in the room with their partners. Kai watched as everyone got up and went to different spots with their partners. He gets a serious look of frustration and tries to write again. Only to drop the pencil. He sat there and looked at the pencil. Sighing he picked it back up and tried to write again, but only to have it slip out of his grip again. I see him glare down at the pencil as he picked it up again. With one last try he goes down and starts to write. And once again… it slips. Kai's left hand balled into a fist. And without hesitation he quickly brought his right hand, which was suddenly in a fist as well, down as hard as he could onto the desk in frustration and anger. His eyes quickly shoot wide open and his mouth opens and his face looks like he's yelling. But no sound comes out. He, as quickly as he could, pulled his right hand to his chest. He hunched over the desk and his hand. His head is facing the window as he is hunched over. I see his body shudder slightly everyonce and a while. I watch totally alert of what just happened. My eyes are wide at the sudden action. Thankfully everyone else was distracted and didn't notice or hear Kai's burst. I watch intently as Kai slowly uncurls from his hunched over postion. He's still shuddering but very little. I can now see his face kind of. He is still hunched over a little, but he's just hunched over his desk now and is staring down at his paper. His breath is shorter and heavier than usual there is a pained look on his face. Geez what did you do Kai? Wait a second. Is he… crying? He is. Not much though but he is. That must be why I keep seeing him shudder. Wow did that really hurt him that much? I start to feel bad for Kai. I look at him as he slowly pulls his right hand away from his chest. He looks at it and, from what I can see, tried to move it but couldn't. He gritted his teeth as he tried to move it. This only resulted in him pulling his hand to his chest again. Ok I can't take this anymore. I quickly get out another peice of paper and rewrote the infromation. I get up from my seat and walk over to Kai. WHen Kai saw me coming he quickly tried to hide his right hand in his uniform pocket. I sit down in the desk beside him.

"So, Kai. You ready for this project." I ask trying to get his mind off his hand. I can tell it's still bothering him. He just shrugs.

"I guess." Kai sighs.

"Ok well, what are we going to make it about? What's our debate?" I ask curiously.

"Don't think you're going to get away with me doing all the work, Morikawa. I know that's what you've done with other peoples papers and reports that were supposed to be a group/partner project. But you just let them do all the work and you just put your name on it." Kai says glaring slightly. I think he's just trying to sound and look stern, but even I can hear the hurt in his voice right now. I don't think he's noticed he was crying a little. I should probably warn him about that.

"Ok, I promise I won't let you do all the work." I sigh putting my hands up in a surrendering motion. Kai's expression softens a little but still has the pained look. I hesitate for a second slowly slide one of the papers on top of the one he was trying to write on. I could make out a few words on his paper, like two, but the rest were just long lines from either messing up or just not able to write. He looks at the paper slightly surprised. I figured he needed it. I would never to this for just anyone, just if they really do need help or assistance. And in this case Kai does need a little help. I look around seeing if anyone is around. There isn't but just to be safe, I lean in closer to Kai. "Hey, you might want to look in the mirror." I whisper right before I get up. When I do I see Kai looking at me with wonder. He had no idea why I had said that. I walk over to one of the desks and grab a tissue. I figured he might need it to clean up a little. I walk back over and sit down. Gently I set the tissue on the desk. Kai eyed it weirdly. He took out his phone and tapped on it a couple of times. Looking at me one last time, he turned his gaze to his phone. I saw that he had had the camera app up on his phone and had the camera facing towards him. He was using it in place of a mirror. I just sit there and watch. His eyes widen slightly as he sees the light redness around his eyes and the slightly damp lines going from his eyes down his cheek. That's when he actually realized he had been crying. He blushed embarrassed as he took the tissue and whipped the damp spots on his face.

"Thanks." He says quietly and I can tell he's a little embarrassed.

"Yeah. That's why I whispered it to you instead of just saying it loud like I usually do." I shrug. He sighs and leans back in his seat. It wasn't long until the bell rung. We all got up from our spots and went off. The rest of the day was just the usual. Go to class, have lunch, and more classes. After a few hours of school the day was finally over. I don't really come for the afternoon homeroom so I turn and start to walk out of the door. But when I get out of the room I stop and watch as I see a familiar face packing up his books for homework quickly and urgently. He stuffed books in his bag and closed his locker. With this he took a small glance of his watch and he seemed to start to get tense and start to panic, and dashed down the hall and towards the doors. I watch as he runs out the doors and run on the sidewalks, to where I'm guessing is his house. Well, looks like this is the time to meet up with Aichi and the others. Why is Kai acting like this right now? First he's not the same in class and now he's all nervous and tense. AND he's even skipping homeroom? Ok I don't think I have ever seen Kai skip a homeroom and or class period ever. I turn and run the other way. I know a shortcut to where Aichi told me to meet him and the others. So I take my bag and run quickly. I soon see the others gathered up. I wave as I approach them.

"Hey Morikawa! We were beginning to think you weren't going to make it." Kourin created.

"Yeah sorry. Our school doesn't let out quite as early as others. And we have a carnival coming up here soon and we have to stay back to help with that. But I was able to make it here. And so is Kai. He isn't with me right now but he's running this way. SO what's the plan?" I ask. Everyone quickly gathers in a small circle.

"Ok so When he comes by, Miwa, you are going to stop him and lead him here. Then we can take it from there by asking questions and other stuff." Aichi said. Miwa agreed and so did everyone else. They wait a few minutes for Kai to be spotted. And there after a few minutes, we finally see Kai running over the horizon of the hill and into the city. We got ready and waited. Kai looked like he was out of breath but that didn't matter to him, he just kept running. There just like that Kai was there. Miwa quickly made his move and came out of the alley way. He took hold of Kai's left wrist. Kai's eyes widen as he let's out a surprised yelp as Miwa pulls him back into the alley way. Kai starts to struggle against Miwa. He tries desperately to pull away but can't. I can see Miwa is starting to lose grip of Kai. And the look on Kai's face… Fear… Desperate… Worry… It was all describing him. It was kind of obvious he didn't know who was touching him and who was with him. The more he was being held back the more he struggled. Miwa was having a very hard time holding him back. I see Miwa and I know I have to get in there and help. I quickly run up and help MIwa. I wrap my arms around Kai and pull him back. Kai gasps and tries to pry off my arms with his right hand. ONly yelping in return for trying to use it.

"Get off of me!" Kai struggles and fights to get free. I don't understand why he's trying to get free like this. If he would just cooperate we wouldn't have to do all this. He struggles harder and does his best to pull away. Miwa and I each took and arm, me on the right and him on the left, and practically forced Kai up against the wall. He struggled and was thrashing to be let go. "Let me go!" Kai yelled. But not in anger. In fright. Everyone heard the fear in his voice. "Please, stop! Stop! Let me be!" Kai cries out. We all are taken back by this. "Don't hurt me!" I see a reflection in the shadows from Kai. But it was only two reflections and they are both on his cheeks. He was now crying because, from what I think, fright. I start to feel Kai's arms and body shake. I look over at Miwa. He looked at me and had the same confused worried expression as me. We looked at each other for a moment but then nodded.

"Kai!" Miwa said trying to get his attention. Kai doesn't respond with words. Just tries to get free. "Kai stop this! Stop struggling!" Miwa tried to comfort him and stop him but it didn't work.

"Get away from me!" Kai cried shakily. Miwa and I look at each other once more. I know Kai would recognize Miwa's voice anywhere. So why isn't he now? WHy isn't he noticing it's Miwa?

"Let him go." I whisper over to Miwa. Miwa gives me a semi-crazy look.

"What? Are you kidding me?" Miwa whispers back thinking it was some sort of joke.

"Just do it I want to see something." I whisper back. Miwa took a few seconds but finally nodded. WIth one last look at Kai we both let go. Kai fell to his knees. His breath was heavy and he seemed to be stuck in thought. He just stayed on the ground. I hesitantly come up. "Uh, Kai? Come on get up." I say softly putting a comforting hand on his back. But as soon as I touched him he flipped out. He jumped in surprise and stared. His eyes were distracted and distant. He looked around frantically. "Kai calm down ok." I say trying to make him calm.

"No! Don't come near me!" Kai yells as he backs up to the wall. We all just stand there and watch him. I didn't even more an inch. Why is he say 'don't come near me'? After a few seconds he quickly brings up his arms and shields his face. "Get off of me!" Kai yells.

"What is he talking about? No one is near him let alone touching him." Misaki stated. No one else realized it but I soon did. It was all clear kind of.

"Guys he's hallucinating." I say as I observe Kai yell nonsense and shield himself. They all turn to me.

"What do you mean he's hallucinating?" Kamui asks.

"He's yelling about letting him go, don't touch him, don't come near him, and other nonsense like that. And all the while none of us are even near him… WHat i'm wondering is what he's hallucinating… Look he has a wrist/hand brace thing on. That has to be some of the reason. ANd he didn't have that brace yesterday so he must have gotten it last night sometime… I bet whatever made him get that brace is what's traumatizing him right now." I say. Everyone looked at each other and eventually agreed. Miwa decided to try to get down and talk to Kai again. He slowly came up. Kai now, for some reason looked exhausted.

"Kai." Miwa began. Kai looked up quickly at Miwa the distant look still in his eyes. I knew he was still hallucinating. Miwa started to bring his hand forward. But this seemed to trigger Kai off again. His breath was heavy once more and he tried to guard himself and waved his arms in front of him to keep whatever he was seeing away from him. Miwa was about to stop him again but right then just like that Kai just fell limp. He just suddenly stopped moving and fell to the ground. Miwa gasped in surprise as Kai fell. Miwa quickly went to his side and tried to shake him awake. It didn't work. Everyone was very alert by now. "He passed out. " Miwa said. I nod and look at Kai's sweaty faced figure.

"Miwa, why don't you take him to your place and watch him for tonight." I suggest.

"I don't know. My sister will probably freak out and try to interfere, but I know my parents won't mind… I guess so. I'll take him to my house. YOu guys will have to help me get him there though… Oh wait a second. I can't take him to my house. We are having a big family dinner thing and a bunch of our cousins and family is coming over." Miwa said looking up at us. I think of what other places we could take Kai.

"Well does anyone know where he lives? We could take him to his house." Kourin suggests. That might not be such a bad idea.

"I do. We can take him there." Miwa said. Of course he knows where he lives. Kai is like one of his closest friends so why wouldn't he know where he lives. Everyone nods and gathers around. We try to lift Kai in a position that would be easiest. We finally figured out a way and Miwa led the way to his house. We walked down the street past many buildings and other places. FInally after about ten minutes of looking around and dragging Kai with us, we found his house. Much to my surprise it was a small house and not exactly the cleanest on the outside. Wow. Is this really his house? I'm not sure. He looks like he lives in big house or a mansion or something big like that, not a small little house that looks like the starting of a shack.

"Uh, Miwa. ARe you sure this is his house?" I ask just to clarify.

"Yes. This is it. I know it's surprising. He lives in this tiny little house." Miwa chuckled slightly.

"Hmm… Well let's knock and see if anyone's there. But I don't think anyone is, I'm pretty sure he lives alone. So if no one opens the door then we'll just go in." MIwa suggested. They all nominated me to go up and knock. I thought it was pointless because of what Miwa said about him living alone, but I did it anyway. I walked up to the door and brought my hand up. I knocked three times. I hear heavy footsteps come to the door. Suddenly it's open wide.

"Well it's about time you…" A big man started to say but stopped after he saw us and Kai's unconscious form. He looked at us. "Who are you?" He asked looking at me. Ah! I don't know what to say! He's so… big and tough looking!

"Uh, m-my n-name i-is…" I try to say but stutter wildly.

"Stop stuttering boy and just say it." The man says.

"Um. My name is Morikawa, sir." I say. The man looks me up and down and then looks over at the others standing behind me. "Uh, They're my friends." I explain to him. The man eyed Kai's figure.

"What happened to him?" He said pointing to Kai.

"He collapsed, but we don't know why." Misaki said gesturing to Kai.

"Bring him in here." He said turning and walking back into the house. We help into the house and wait for instructions. The man stands there and eyes us. "Well don't just stand there put him over there on the couch!" He instructed pointing to the couch. We all hurry and laid Kai down on the couch. Wow, someones a little harsh. Is he in a bad mood or something? We probably just accidentally woke him up from a nap or something and he's probably not the guy who is bright and cheery when he wakes up. That's probably it, but who knows… I'm not completely sure this is actually where Kai lives. He's too much of a clean freak. Well, not too much of a clean freak, he's like the overly clean freak, like someone is with major OCD. but seriously? I don't know how Kai can even stand to live here. I can't stand to even be in this house right now! There is stuff EVERYWHERE! There's books piles on the floor, dishes piled high in the sink, papers and other stuff scattered everywhere, bottles of beer around the floor some broken, and so much other stuff! Hold on…. beer? Uh, I don't know about anyone else but I never know Kai to drink. Maybe it's this guy. Huh, that must suck having someone that you live with drink. Well, I'm convinced that this isn't Kai's fault… I wonder what Kai was hallucinating earlier. I'm still thinking about that! His eyes looks so distant and you could see that he wasn't seeing the real world but something else. Something that was traumatizing him and hallucinating. We just awkwardly stand there waiting if he was going to say something or not. He just stands there looking at Kai. The look in his eyes though. They don't look like a normal person would at someone who just randomly collapsed. I don't know how to explain it. After about a few minutes his eyes turn to us. They suddenly get a dark look in them. "You can leave now. So go." He says sternly. Wow! SOmeones grumpy! What did you do wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning or what?! We all quickly leave the house in an awkward silence.

When we get outside the man closes the door behind us, not even saying thank you for bringing Kai home. We just stand there and look at each other. What just happened? We just bring Kai home and suddenly this guy is telling us to just put him on the couch and tells us to leave? Um, Don't ask me but I say that's very rude.

"Well… That was a little awkward…" Kamui was the first one to talk.

"At least I know where his house is now. I was put with him on a group/partner project and I was thinking I could come over and we could work on it this weekend. The only thing was I didn't know where his house was, but now I do. So I guess that's a good thing." I say and shrug. We all turn and head back to our homes. We stop whenever we get to someone's house, then we move on.

We finally get to my house. I turn and say goodbye to everyone and go in. When I get in I go upstairs to my room and set my bag beside my bed. I walk over and just flop down on the bed. I lay there staring at the ceiling for a while. Soon I just get bored and I decided to look through my deck. I roll over to my side and reach down for my bag. Reaching around inside I get my Vanguard deck. I push myself up to a sitting position. Taking out my deck form it's protecting case I spread the cards out on my bed. My deck is none in particular. It's just a deck of a lot of mixed cards from many decks. I have a small obsession with grade three cards and a bunch of my strong cards are grade threes from different decks. Well hopefully Kai can come to Card Capital tomorrow. Then I can just go with him to his house. Since tomorrow is Saturday. Actually, I think I'll just go there tomorrow morning. Then we can get a head start on the project. I look over at my alarm clock and it now says ten o'clock. Eh, I guess I'll go to bed now… WOw where has the time gone? I guess that whole event took longer than I thought it did… I still can't believe Kai lives in that tiny little house. But whatever. WIth this I just put my deck away and lay down. I let my eyes fall closed and soon I'm asleep.

(Aichi POV)

I watch as Miwa grabs Kai's wrist and pulls him back into the alley. Kai starts to struggle greatly and pull away, but Miwa wasn't letting that happen.

"Get off of me!" Kai suddenly yells. Kai why don't you just calm down and let us talk. All we want to do is figure out what's wrong, you don't have to struggle. Kai continues to struggle and I see Miwa start to lose some of his grip on Kai. But everytime Kai starts to get away Miwa would just re grab him and get a better hold on him. Morikawa went over and help Miwa hold Kai. They grabbed him and pushed him against the wall. "Let me go!" Kai yells as he keeps getting pulled back. The more Kai struggles to get away the more Miwa and Morikawa struggle to hold on. "Please, stop! Stop! Let me be!" Kai cries out. He actually sounds scared. That's a first. Why does Kai sound so scared? We aren't doing anything to him.

"Kai!" Miwa tries to say to Kai but he doesn't answer, only tries to get away. "Kai! Stop this! Stop struggling!" Miwa tries again. Kai only seemed to struggle harder. WHy isn't he noticing Miwa?

"Get away from me!" Kai cries out again. His voice is shaking and full of fright. I see Miwa and Morikawa start to whisper as they hold Kai down. I can't hear what they're saying though. Suddenly they both nod and let go of Kai. He falls to his knees and just stays there.

"Kai calm down ok." Morikawa says slowly coming forward. Kai quickly backs up against the wall.

"No! Don't come near me!" Kai shouts as he gets up against the wall. He looks around frantically. Suddenly he shields his head with his arms. "Get off of me!" Kai yells. What? We aren't touching him.

"What is he talking about? No one is near him let alone touching him." Misaki states.

"Guys he's hallucinating." Morikawa says studying Kai's shaking fearful figure.

"What do you mean he's hallucinating?" Kamui asks.

"He's yelling about letting him go, don't touch him, don't come near him, and other nonsense like that. And all the while none of us are even near him… WHat i'm wondering is what he's hallucinating… Look he has a wrist/hand brace thing on. That has to be some of the reason. ANd he didn't have that brace yesterday so he must have gotten it last night sometime… I bet whatever made him get that brace is what's traumatizing him right now." Morikawa answers. Of course! That must be it! What else! I wonder what he did to his wrist? I have no idea.

"Kai." Miwa says as he reached a hand out to comfort him. But this only set Kai off again. He guarded himself again and started to breath heavily. But right then he suddenly stopped moving and fell to the ground. I watch very surprised and alert to what just happened. Miwa quickly rushes to his side and tries to shake him away. But it doesn't work. "He passed out." Miwa stated as he observed Kai. What in the world! WHy did he just pass out! Morikawa suggests Miwa take Kai to his house for the night but Miwa said he had company over. So we all just decided to take him to his place instead. We took him and followed Miwa to his house. Surprisingly it's this really small house and it's very rugged. I thought Kai would have lived in bigger house than this. Oh well. Can't judge a book by it's cover. Anyways, All of us start to talk and somehow nominate Morikawa to go and knock on the door. He goes up to the door and knocks. The door suddenly opens wide and a big man stands tall in the doorway. He looks very intimidating to say the least.

"Well it's about time you…" The man starts but doesn't finish when he sees all of us. He looks each and every one of us down. "Who are you?" He asked pointing the question towards Morikawa. Morikawa stiffens and starts to stutter. The man rolls his eyes. "Stop stuttering boy and just say it!" The man demands.

"Um, My name is Morikawa, sir." Morikawa replies. The man then turns his look over to the rest of us. "Uh, they're my friends." The man looks at us.

"What happened to him?" THe man asked pointing to Kai.

"He collapsed but we don't know why." Misaki replied to the man. He looked at Kai with what looked like a glare. He motioned us inside.

"Bring him in here." He instructed. We all move the unconscious Kai into the house. When I get into the house I am very much surprised. There is junk and stuff everywhere. I didn't think Kai could even live in this but somehow he does. WE take him in and awkwardly stand there waiting. "Well don't just stand there put him over there on the couch!" The man ordered pointing to the couch. We take Kai over to the couch and lay him down. The man stands there and looks at Kai. He then turns to us once more. "You can leave now. So go." The man said quite rudely. Together we all just leave the house with the man closing the door behind us.

"Well… That was a little awkward…" Kamui said. We all agree.

"At least I know where his house is now. I was put with him on a group/partner project and I was thinking I could come over and we could work on it this weekend. The only thing was I didn't know where his house was, but now I do. So I guess that's a good thing." Morikawa says. Really? Kai and Morikawa were put together in a project? Ok, I'm going to guess that that project is going to be all Kai's work. I don't know why, Morikawa just seems like the type of person to make someone else to that. I walk with the others as we all walk back. WE stop every once and a while when we come to one of our houses. I unfortunately was the first one to have to leave. I get to my door and go in. Emi is there already and comes and greets me as I enter.

"Hello Aichi! Did you have fun out with your friends?" Emi asks giving me a hug as I close the door.

"Yeah." That is all I said. I couldn't say anything else because the truth was It wasn't that great of a day. Just seeing Kai freak out like that was just so sudden and truthfully kind of scary. And the fact that he was hallucinating, and saying abunch of stuff that had to do with not touching him, getting away, and other stuff, makes it even more freaky. It also makes you wonder what was traumatizing him. I hope we can figure it out.

"Are you al right?" Emi asks.

"Huh?" I ask back. Oops I guess I just got lost in thought and didn't hear what she said. Uh-oh. I didn't mean to miss what she said.

"I said are you alright?" Emi repeated.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine." I say as I turn towards the stairs. Without saying anything else I go up to my room. I walk over to my bed and lay down thinking. ABout none other than the events that just happened. Kai. Him freaking. Him Passing out. That creepy man at his house. HIs house in general. SO many things are running through my mind right now. I don't like it but I can't help it. I guess I ought to go to bed now… Yep, that's what I'm doing, sleep. I then drift off into sleep.

(Kai's POV)

I groan as I wake up. And the first thing I see is the inside of my house… in the living room? WHat? I push myself into a sitting position and look around. I find myself on the couch. Why am I on the couch? How did I get here? Ok so first I'm running home, then something grabs me, then… It's all kind of fuzzy now but all I know is that it creeped me out, then somehow I ended up here. I see the light on the floor from the window. I was about to turn around but I watched the light as it got a shadow cast over it. A figure. A figure that seems strangely familiar. It takes me a while to finally get what that figure actually is. Wait… that's… My eyes widen. Dad. I quickly spin around after realizing it's my father. He doesn't hesitate. He comes forwards and grabs the front of my shirt and harshly pulls me up. He brought my face close to his and he death glared me. I struggle and try to pry his hands away from my shirt. But it's pointless. His grip is WAY too strong, way past my level of strength. He narrowed his glare and did what seemed like a growl. I can smell the horrible stench of beer and other stuff in his breath. I coughed as I smelled the horrific smell. Bringing my left hand up, I try to cover my mouth and nose to keep the stench away from me. But he didn't allow that. He quickly swatted my hand away. I don't know what to do! There's no doubt he's going to beat me again! I have to try and get away! I start to struggle harder. My dad notices I start to struggle again but that I guess ticked him off… Well me in general just ticks him off… When he notices me start to struggle again he brings his other hand up but this time wraps it around my throat. HIs grip slowly gets tighter around my neck. I can't breath! I take my hands and try to release his grip, but it was obviously not working. HIs hand only got tighter. He looks me straight in the eye. AFter staring at me with complete hatred he laughed a smirk. My visioin is starting to go blurry and black spots are starting to dance around in my vision. WIth this right when I think it's all over, which I wish it had been, he took hhis hand forcefully threw me. I went smashing into the ground. I roll over and start coughing. I cough and gasp for breath. I feel so dizzy, after loosing a lot of oxygen like that. I seriously wish he would have just held on! Then I wouldn't be here anymore in this torture! He chuckles evily as he walks over to my as I'm still coughing. AFter I get most of my breath back I look up and see Dad standing over me. With no hesitation what so ever he brings his foot back and strongly kicks me in the side. I hear a cracking sound and pain is shot through my side. There is no mistaking it, that he just broke some of my ribs. I want to fight back but I can't! I'm not strong enough!

"Get up!" He orders. I don't want to but I do. I shakily get up to my feet but about half way up he grabs the back of my shirt this time. He brings his hand back, balls it into a fist, and with a lot of strength brings it forward. His fist strongly makes contact with my face. I hang there in a daze. He laughs again as he throws me down. I can already feel my own strength weakening. Scratch that, my whole body and strength weakening. He once again walks up to me and grabs me. BUt his time he keeps me on the ground. He gets down and holds me down to the ground. I try to pull myself up but with him on top of me and my ribs, getting up could be noted as this he brings his fist back again and punches me. He just stays there continuously punching me. I'm losing consciousness. I don't know how much longer I can take this! He sees I'm almost unconscious. HE then decides to be a major troll! He then moves down and punches me right in the stomach and gets up. I quickly scrunch up and curl into a ball. Yep I'm not losing consciousness! Not after that at least! I was about to but then he just woke me back up to full consciousness by punching me in the gut! I wish he would jsut let me go unconscious! He continuously grabs me and throws me into the ground. I am surprised he hasn't made a dent in the floor yet! I don't even get how I'm still conscious! He soon forcefully pushes me and throws me up against the wall. I hit it with grunt but then my legs give way and I slide down to the ground. I'm now sitting up against the wall. I clench my side with my hand. It's getting very hard to breath in here now. With the stench of beer, lack of oxygen constantly, my side… It's all interfering with my ability to breath. Maybe this time it will actually make me go unconscious! SO I won't have to suffer this anymore! But knowing my father he will make sure that WON'T happen.

I sit up against the wall breathing heavily. Wait, where did he go? I look around the room and he is no where in sight. Oh no this isn't going to be good. Where is he! Oh great going to the surprise attack… either that or he passed out himself from drinking. But I'm not sure, both have happened before. Right then I hear footsteps coming my way. Yep… it's the surprise attack method. He comes up to me but I am looking the other direction, looking for him. He harshly kicks me in the back. I yelp as I am thrusted forward. I land face down in an awkward position. I look up and see my menacing father standing over me with a long evil smirk. It took me a while to realize what he had. But I look at him and soon see it. MY eyes widen and I try my best to scoot away. Soon, now I am trying to get up and run. But no… he takes my shirt and pulls me toward him again. But I am stopped from going any further. He stops me when I my face is right in like with the object that he has. The tip of the object just lightly touched right in between my eyes. I stay there completely frozen staring wide eyed at the object. That object being, none other than a knife. It was a long what looks to be either an assassin knife or a bounty hunter knife. I don't know, I can't tell. PRobably neither. It's probably a knife from the kitchen. He laughs evilly as he brings the knife back slightly and bring it forward again. I yelp as the sharp blade runs across my nose. He let's go of me and I stagger backwards. I quickly hold a hand to my nose. He cut a deep line across the bridge of my nose. I take my hand away and look at it. There is a large smear of blood on my hand. I look up and see my father coming at me again. His knife in his hand ready to cut through anything in his path. I don't know where to go! This is a small house and there is no safe place! There is broken glass everywhere! I finally decide to make a run for it. I have to get out of here no matter what it takes! Even if I die right when I leave this house, I just want to get out of here! I run past him but he grabs me again. OH come on! Really! I can't see him because my back is facing hiim. But I soon feel a cold blade against my back. Then again. And AGain. He continues to slash me on the back and I can feel streams of blood trailing down my back. I yell each time the knife makes contact with me. The knife is sharpened to perfection. The more he does it the more it hurts. Finally he stops slashing me but he doens't put the knifee away. He just keeps it in his hand. I know this sin't the last time he will be suing that thing. I finally come to my sences but find myself on the ground. I can hardly move. My back and side hurts so uch.

My vision is starting to blur but it keeps coming back. While I'm still in a daze I see my father starting to come forward. All I can do right now is sit there. It takes me a while to comprehend and see what he's doing. But when I can actually focus I see him with his hands fiddling with his belt. I look a little closer and finally notice that he's taking the belt off. OH no! What's he going to do now! He gets done undoing the belt and pulls it so it comes off of his pants and is now in his hand. With this he walks forward and towards me. On his way he grabs a beer bottle off the table as he past it. WHen he gets to me, he smirks and repositions the belt in his hand. I watch horrified as he raised the belt high and brings it down across me. It sounded like the crack of a whipp, and that's also what it felt like. This finally gets me to stand up. But my legs are so whobbly and shaky it's hard to even support myself anymore. But I know I have to run. He laughs in amusment at my beatings. But as soon as I stand up I get a serious dizzy spell. I put a hand on my head as I stagger backwards. My other hand is streched out wanting something to grab onto to keep myself from falling. But I guess it woudln't matter anyways, I'm vunerable either way. After the slight moment of dizziness I can finally see what I'm doing again. I look over and see my father coming at me again. I turn back and run, or attempt to. I go as quicly as my aching legs can go. But I can't make it further than the kitchen. There just had to be a newspaper on the ground! I slipped and landed on y knees. My breath is heavy and raspy but I have other things to worry about. I look behind me but quickly look back covering and sheilding my head with my arms. He had the bottle aboe his head and chucked it right at me. I didn't think it would hurt quite as badly as the knife or the belt did. I was wrong. I was also wrong in thinking that the bottle had been emptied of it's horrible polluting, stenchful liquid. The bottle hit hard against my back and the foul liquid coated and spread all over the back of me. I howl in pain as the liquid quickly runs down my back and touches each cut. It stings so badly and feels like someone is continuously driving a sword in my back! I can't take it anymore! The pain is just too much! So, with this, saying to myself that this is for sure the end I let myself go to the ground. BUt I can still hear the cracking of the belt and the pain surging through me. All I can do is yell and plead.

(Moriawa's POV)

I wake up and see my ceiling. OH great another day of the boring old school. I moan as I roll over pulling the covers and my pillow over my head. It just looks like a big lump in the bed. Hold on… It's Saturday! I don't have school what am I talking about! OH yeah… I'm going to Kai's house today to work on that project. Hopefully he can keep his mind straight today. He seemed so distracted yesterday. I still want to know what he was hallucinating yesterday. What could possibly be traumatizing him like that. I'm sure it can't be that bad. It's not like he's constantly getting beaten everyday… Well, I guess I better get up and get dressed, and go to Kai's house. That tiny little run down house. No offence Kai but it looks like a shack. I get out of my bed and go to my closet. Hmmm… WHat should I wear? Oh how about this! A T-shirt with jeans. I don't know how much more casual you can get with that. But I go with it anyway. I grab the shirt and jeans I want and change into them. I told Kai I wouldn't let him do all of the work. So that is why I'm going today. That and maybe I can get something, like information, out of Kai. With this I get up and leave my room. I walk downstairs and sit at the table. Soon I get myself some breakfast… I for some reason have a bad feeling about today. But I don't know why. EH, I guess I'll know later. Maybe it's because I've never been to his house before other than last night, I've never been alone with Kai like this before, and I Never gone to someone elses house for a school project. This is all new to me. Ok I think it it's time to go give Kai a little visit. I Get up from the table and head for the door. My parents are still asleep because it's Saturday, and I usually just go and do as I please.

I open the door and close it as I head out. The chill morning air. Birds constantly chirping. And the fresh morning atmosphere. It's all so peaceful. I know!... I'm not exactally the one to be saying something's peaceful, but when I'm alone and no one is around, then I do. I look around enjoying the breeze as I walk down the street. Ok all I have to do is follow the path that Kai took yesterday to his house. Or well… Most of the way, then Miwa showed us the rest. I still can't believe Kai passed out. I have NEVER seen him do that. I finally get to the spot where we got Kai and he passed out at. Everytime I look in that alley way now I can't help but see that image of Kai struggling and passing out. IT's creepy. Kai freaking out is creepy. Anyways. I walk around some more and I finally come to the hill. Once I'm at the top of the hill of the road I can look down and see his house. HIs tiny, rugged, not very spacious house. I stand at the top of the hill for a few seconds… or minutes. I don't now I can't tell how long I was there. I just stand there and observe the little house. I take a deep breath and finally decide to go forward. WHy am I all anxious all of a sudden? Why do I feel nervous coming here? Is there something I'm not supposed to see? SO many questions run through my head. And before I even know it I'm only about another house away. My pace slows down slightly and I take my time getting to the house. I walk looking at the ground my heart beating very fast for some reason, and me really nervous.

I just walk slowly towards the house. But something brought my attention back to the house. All of a sudden I hear this loud shattering of glass or something coming from Kai's home. My head shoots up at the sound of breaking glass. I stop dead in my tracks as the shattering startled me. But shortly after the shatter I hear a pained agonizing scream. I'm fully alert now, knowing who the scream had just come from. Kai. I quickly pick up my pace and now am running for the house. As I reach the front door I can also hear something that sounds like a whip and a yell and plead after each sound. And the pleads sounded way too familiar. They were such as: Don't hurt me!, Get off of me!, Leave me be!, and other pleads. But this time they sounded a lot more intense than before. I make no hesitation and swing open the door. A horrible stench fills my nostrils and I have to cover my nose quickly until I get a little used to it. But I know I have no time to fool around. I look around and choose a room to search in. I look all around the room and then I move onto another room. Each Of the rooms I check are empty. But then I hear a dark laugh and a thud. I heard deep coughing and gasping following after. That's exactly what I needed! SOmething to tell me what room they were in. I quickly run to the room that looks like a kitchen and I almost faint seeing the sight before me. Kai was on the floor gasping and coughing for breath and above him stood a man. No, not any man but the man that was in the house before. He laughed evilly as he looked down on Kai. He had a long leather belt in his one hand the other hand was balling into a fist.

"HA! That'll teach you, you little good for nothing scrap!" The man laughed as he raised the belt. I didn't have an time to stop him before he brought the belt down with a snap, hitting Kai harshly. Kai yells and his arms which were holding his weight up lost their strength and he flopped down back to the ground. He strains and turns his head up to the man. He doesn't take his eyes off of the man and slowly scoots away. "YOu really think that, that's going to keep me away! HA!" The man said darkly. He then starts to come forward. He grabs the front of of Kai's shirt and lifts him up. He scowls in Kai's face and punches him. Then he let go of his shirt and Kai fell helplessly to the ground. THe man backs up laughing the whole time. WHen he gets to a doorway he just stands there looking at Kai with a smirk. Suddenly he come forward again. THis was my only chance to get in there! I quickly run forward and grab the man's arm before he got to Kai and threw the punch he had ready. The man quickly shot his head towards me with hatred. But he stops walking and just stares at me. "Hey aren't you that Morikawa kid from yesterday?" He asked me. I see Kai straining and pushing himself up with his arms with the help of a wall to support him.

"Yes I am." I say serious. THe man smirks again.

"Well then Morikawa since you decided to get in on the action, how about I show you a little lesson or two." The man challenges with his wild smirk. How on earth a I supposed to beat this guy! IIf Kai can't beat him I'm most definitely can't! But for some reason I accept the challenge. "Alright kid. LEt's do this." ANd giving no time for a reply he throws a punch. I saw the punch coming and ducked right at the last second. "WHy you little." The man says charging at me. I was able to move out of the way before he could hit me. I understand now. Why and what Kai was hallucinating. THis guy is INSANE! AND Kai lives with this!? This guy isn't that good with coordination isn't he? I always move out of the way before he can hit me. "Ok you, I've had enough playing around." He glares as he pulls something from his back pocket. Soon it is finally in view. I knife. But the knife was bloody yet still had the shine of a newly freshly sharpened sword. He grips the knife in his hand and glares.

"What are you going to do? You can't beat me!" I challenge. The man growls at me.

"Morikawa." I hear a strained weak voice from behind me. I turn around to see Kai.

"Kai." I say looking at him. I'm a lose for words when I see him. He looks at me with pleading and pained eyes. He shakes his head. "What?" I ask wondering why he shook his head.

"Don't do it." Kai says shaking his head again. I look at him curious and worried. "You can't beat him… He's too strong." Kai managed to say. It was getting hard for him to talk. I can tell as the sound of his voice gets raspier and weaker. I stand there and look at Kai. I finally come to a conclusion. I can't let this guy go on and keep hurting people. I'm going to fight him. WIth one last look at Kai I turn and face the man. "Morikawa don't! It won't work! You can't win!" Kai says desperately trying to get me to back down. But only hearing his voice is making me want to keep going forward in this. I give the man a taunting stare. He smirks and comes forward. But surprisingly he doesn't use the knife. He takes his fist and punches me in the face. I wasn't expecting him to punch me. I was expecting him try and slash me. He tries to punch me again but I try my best to hit his arm away as it comes towards me. This only ticked off the man. He tried harder and harder to hit me, and occasionally he got. But I held my ground.

"That's it! I'm done with you! Come here!" The man shouts as he gets a grip on the knife and comes forward quickly with the knife held high. He's coming a lot faster than I expected. I'm wanting to move out of the way but I don't have time. He rushes forward. He's finally here. Taking the knife he draws it back and comes, the most forcefully I've seen him do this whole time, forward. My eyes widen as I watch the knife come down. Is this it? Is this how it ends? Thoughts are racing through my mind as I think it's going to be the end of me. But right then all of a sudden a split second before it can hit me, something stops the knife. I feel another body come in front of me hitting me slightly and pushing me backwards.

"DAD NO!" It was Kai. I watch as the knife comes down and slashes Kai right in his left side. He howls in pain as he falls to the ground clenching his side and his face scrunched up. Wait! D-did he just say, Dad!? This is his…? NO way! I look a little bit closer at the man's, supposedly Kai's father's face. I then see a resemblance. This is Kai's father… Kai just saved me… He saved me. I look over at Kai who was curled up in pain and then I look at his father. I can see he also was surprised. But he soon smirked. I can't believe this! I made a decision right then and there. I have to save Kai. He saved me and it's the least I can do now. I quickly run behind his father as he slowly starts to come forward towards Kai. I look around frantically. I soon see a plug in microwave. QUickly thinking I pick it up. Coming forward I swing the microwave back and as hard as I could I threw it forward. It flew forward and hit the man right in the back of the head. The man fell to his knees and he gripped the back of his head where the microwave hit. Did I just bring him down? With a microwave? Wow, maybe he isn't as tough as I thought. He got up and shot me a death glare. Ok… maybe he is still tough. I get an idea. I look at him as he charges and I run. I run through the house making sure he isn't going to catch me. As I run I take out my phone and quickly dial 911. It rings and then finally someone answers.

"This is 911. What is your emergency?" A man's voice asks. I talk as I run.

"Hello. I'm currently being chased by a man who was abusing his son. He saw me and started to chase me after he really hurt the son." I say as I run.

"Get back here you!" Kai's father shouts at me. I don't think he saw me on the phone but I'm glad he actually shouted something. That's just proof that my statement was true.

"Ok sir. Can I have your location, I'll send some officers down right away." The man says. I give him my location and we end the call. Yes! Now if I can just keep him occupied until the police get here I can then take the police ambulance people to Kai. He needs serious medical attention. The father runs after me and I run away. I turn a corner but accidentally running into something. A door. I look up and see it's a locked closet door with a big window. I don't know why but I got this idea. I stand and hold my ground as Kai's father comes for me. ANd right at the last second I quickly step aside and open the door. The man is running too fast and can't stop himself and runs straight into the closet. As soon as he's in there I close the door making sure it's locked on the inside. The only way it can be unlock is from the outside, which I don't really understand. But hey! I just trapped this lunatic! I don't stick around and run straight to Kai. I quickly try to find the room where Kai was in. Soon I found it. I look around and find Kai right in the exact place where he was before. Laying on the ground. I rush over to him. I kneel down beside him.

"Kai… Kai?" I say as he isn't responding. I start to panic slightly. "Kai. Come on you have to…" I can't finish the sentence because of what I see. I can finally see the damage he has on him. It was like the strongest deck of Vanguard had done at least five critical damage in one hit. But back to the fact, I see the gash in his side. I look over him and look at the back of his shirt. It's soaking with a horrible stench which I know exactly what that stench is. It's soaked with both that foul liquid and blood. There are several cuts in his shirt obviously done by the knife and many blood stains. Kai's right hand seemed to be twisted in an unnatural form and probably broken. His face is damp and red from sweat, blood, tears, and most likely the occasional punch. I see his eyes are starting to close. I gently shake him to keep his eyes open. "Kai, come on! Keep your eyes open!" I say urgently. Kai slowly moves his head and eyes to look at me. IT looks like he's trying to say something but only soft noises come out. His eyes are about half closed. They then start to shut again. His breath is very shallow. I shake him some more to keep him awake. "No! Come on, Kai!" I demand but sound desperate at the same time. His eyes just keep closing. "Stay with me Kai! Stay awake!" I say shaking him. But it doesn't work. His eyes slowly close until they are finally shut. When they shut his head falls back down limply. I start to panic again. "Oh come on, where's the police!" I shout frustrated. I couldn't keep him awake. ANd I know how dangerous it is if something like this happens and someone falls asleep in that condition. I suddenly hear a sound. A sound that I couldn't be more grateful for. The sirens of the police and paramedic. I heard quick footsteps and the front door quickly opens. "Over here!" I shout to the police. They come into the room and quickly rush to me.

"Are you the one that called us?"One police said.

"Yes." I reply.

"Ok thank you for calling us we will do all we can. Where is the man you said was beating up his son? And I'm going to take a guess and say that's his son." The police said and then looked at Kai who was being checked out by paramedics. I nod.

"I uh, trapped him in the closet." I say awkwardly scratching the back of my neck. The officer gives me a weird look but tells his men to get Kai's father out. When they did he staggered out and they got him.

"Well good job at trapping him. I must say I don't think I would have thinked to use the closet." The police smiled and nodded.

"Heh, He was was chasing me and I just ran into that door and decided to close him in when he came rushing at me." I say. The police looks at me, looking like he's studying me. This makes me a little uncomfortable. Finally he says.

"I think you should be checked by the paramedic as well. You have a few bruises and since you were also in on this fight I think it would be best that we have you checked out before we can officially say that you are ok and send you home." THe police said to me. I didn't think I was that hurt but you never know. I watch as some paramedics bring in a stretcher. They put Kai on it and take him out to the ambulance. "Your friend here though might need a little more looking at." The police pointed out. Uh, yeah. Definitely is going to need more attention than me. The police told me to go to the paramedics to get me checked out. I get up and walk out the door. I shield my eyes as I walk into the pure sunlight. A paramedic comes up to me and checks me up and down. But mostly my face. That seemed to be the place with most damage. They say I already have a black and blue mark forming on my cheek where my jaw is. I sigh as they tell me to get into the ambulance. I look up. But I stop in my tracks at what I see. Or more like who. I look up at the top of the hill. ANd there stood many familiar faces. Miwa… Misaki… Aichi… Kamui… Izaki… Kourin… THey were all there. Staring wide eyed and shocked. I stand there as we look at each other. I look at them but am only being brought back to my senses when a paramedic puts a hand on my shoulder and guides me to the vehicle. I climb into the vehicle and sit and wait.

We travel for about five minutes and soon arrived at the hospital. They let the people taking care o Kai go first. Taking Kai with them. Then they took me in. I seriously don't see the need to take me in. Just take care of Kai, he's more hurt than me. But they just insisted… OH great! I just remembered! WHat are my parents going to say about this! Aww man I'm starting to think that I might be getting a talk or something when I get home. They took me back and made me get an x-ray. They looked at the x-rays. They said There wasn't anything majorly wrong. Just a few bruises.

"Yes! Ok so if I'm good now I can go and wait for my friend now!" I say grateful that they said i was ok and just had bruises. I was about to leave the door but a hand stopped me.

"Hold on a second, kid. We said that there was nothing MAJOR and you only had some bruises. we never said that wasn't anything wrong." The doctor said. I giver her a weird look and she motions me to sit back down.

"Ugh, what's wrong with me? Just say it." I groan. The doctor giggles a little.

"Wow. You're really one to get straight to the point aren't ya. Anyways. We check for both external and internal injuries. There were obviously external injuries, and for the internal… We checked things out and we found that you have a slight concussion. It's nothing bad but I would suggest you take it easy for the next three days at least." The doctor said. A concussion? I've had a concussion before and had to be kept from doing anything for a month so I'm pretty sure I can handle three days.

"What about him?" I ask the doctor. She knows exactly who I was talking about.

"He too has one but it isn't bad. This is just a little worse by like a hair but it's ok. He is going to be fine. We just had to clean his cuts do a small surgery on his wrist and set that back into place, and wrap his torso up. Some ribs, like three, were broken but they are fixable. It will take about a week or so for them to heal. We just wrapped up his whole torso on account of his cuts and his ribs. And we had to stitch the gash on his nose back together and it has a bandage as well. But other than that and the bruises he'll be completely fine." The doctor said. I breath a breath of relief. He'll be ok. I am about to say something else but someone suddenly comes through the door. She has beautiful green eyes and dirty blonde hair. She has a worried expression on her face. "Oh hello. What may I do for you?" The doctor asks the lady.

"Where is he? Is my son ok?" The lady asked. I can tell she's very worried.

"Oh you must be Harumi. And yes don't worry he's fine. He has a few broken ribs and his wrist is broken and he has some cuts and bruises. And a small concussion like this young boy, but I can assure you that he will be fine. He will just be out for a few hours is all." HTe doctor reassured. This Harumi person sighs gratefully. She smiles as she is reassured that her son will be ok. WHoa whoa wait! That's the exact description the doctor said about Kai when she explained him to me! And she said her son had a concussion just like me! So is this… This is Kai's mom! Wow! I can totally see the resemblance! ANd she is definitely a lot nicer than his father. Harumi looks over at me. "He's the boy that called the police and practically saves your son." The doctor smiled gesturing to me.

"Ah, ha yeah um… I wouldn't say that. I mean, I did call the police but I didn't save him. You guys were the one that saved him. I just stayed there and shook him trying to make him not go unconcious." I say blushing slightly at her comment.

"No. You did save him. Even if you just stayed there. You called the police, you trapped the guy, and you stayed with the boy to make sure he was ok." The doctor smiled. Really? Did I actually save Kai like she said?

"Thank you." Harumi says to me with a smile. I smile back and nod.

(Misaki's POV)

Miwa, Izaki, Aichi, KOurin, Kamui, and I all walk along the side of the empty road. It's quiet and peaceful. Probably because Morikawa isn't with us. Usually when he's with us it's usually very loud. But today he isn't with us and is probably with Kai like he said he would be. We all walk enjoying the surroundings as we walk. After walking for a while we somehow get to the top of the hill where we were when we took Kai home yesterday. We all stop at the top and take a break and talk.

"So after this walk what do you guys want to do?" Kourin asks.

"Don't know. We could just go with it and do whatever." Izaki suggests. I really could care less what we do. I would be fine with whatever we do. Just as long as we don't go to see Team Handsome and have that annoying Nagisa swoon over Kamui. Truthfully that's disgusting. One she is WAY too young for him. Two Kamui isn't ready for a girlfriend and he is totally creeped out by her. Anyways. We all just stand there and chat for a while. I don't mind standing here and talking with the others. Right then the only thing that stopped our conversation was a sound of a blaring siren. We look behind us and see a police car and a ambulance. We all stand to the side as they two go past. We all look at each other.

"I wonder what happened and where it's going." Aichi said in wonder. Everyone was thinking it. Aichi was just the only one who actually said it. We watch as it goes down the hill and stops outside of a house. Our eyes widen as we see who's house it is. Kai's. We all look at each other as police officers and paramedics race into the house. We all just stand there and watch. It takes about two minutes but soon two police officers come out with a handcuffed, severely struggling, cursing, raging man. And it was that guy that was in the house yesterday as well. Shortly after they load him into the police car, some paramedics come out fo the house carrying a stretcher that has Kai laying on it and from what I can see he's pretty beat up. They load him into the ambulance. Then out of the house came a police officer and then… Morikawa? Why is Morikawa in on this? I see him as he walks over to the paramedic and he checks him up and down and on his face. I don't know what they're saying. But after talking a little Morikawa sighs and starts to go to the ambulance. He looks up and stops in his tracks as he spots us. We all have wide eyed shocked looks on our faces. We practically have a moment of just looking at each other. But then a paramedic comes up to Morikawa and guides him to the ambulance. Morikawa boards the bus and the two vehicles drive off.

"What. Happened!?" Kamui shouted as the vehicles disappear down the road going to, what I'm guessing, is the hospital.

"I have no idea." Miwa said still shocked.

"Why did they handcuff that man, put Kai in the ambulance, and most weirdly why was Morikawa there?" I ask. No one knows the answer to the question. We all just look at each other and just walk on awkwardly. We don't know what to do after seeing that. There could be so many explanations for that! About three hours later we get a call. It's from Morikawa. Izaki answered his phone. We let Izaki talk to Morikawa without anyone interfering. He nods every once and a while. Soon he hangs up the phone.

"That was Morikawa. He says, since we saw then take the man and put Kai in the ambulance, he asked if it was ok and he said that we have permission to come to the hospital. He said Kai is ok and he will explain when we get there. And if we don't come he will tell us about it later. But he said that if we don't want to come we don't have to. All he said is that we were able to come and that Kai just got out of surgery." Izaki said a little worry hinting in his voice. We all tense slightly but we agree. We all get up from our seats, we went back to Card at each other we debate if we should go see Kai and Morikawa or not. Obviously there only like one or two votes not to go but those votes got changed the more we debated. So we settled on the choice of going.

"I wonder why Kai had to go into surgery." i say as we start to walk again.

"I don't know but I wish I did. There is so many things that could have happened. I mean, we saw that guy that we saw yesterday in handcuffs and getting put into the police car, then we saw Kai being put in the ambulance while he was on a stretcher, but then Morikawa came out. The first two make sense but why was Morikawa involved with that. I know he went over for a school project but did he get into a fight of some sort?" Izaki said. It was a true fact. Kai was loaded into the ambulance, that guy was handcuffed and taken away, and Morikawa was randomly there. All true facts. I hope Kai is ok. and Morikawa because he had to go into the ambulance as well. But mostly Kai because he was the one who was on the stretcher. After a while we arrived at the hospital. We came up to the desk and asked for Kai and Morikawa. They were kind and told us they were both in the recovering part of the hospital. Which was on the third floor up and their rooms were about halfway down the hall. We walked down the hall and soon came to the door. I guess they were both in the same room.

"Who's going in first?" Kamui asked. I can tell he's a little nervous.

"How about you, Kamui?" Miwa chuckled hitting him lightly on the back.

"What! Uh I don't know about that!"Kamui said wide eyed. We all chuckle slightly. It was funny but soon he gave in. He hesitantly went up to the door.

"Come on Kamui just open it already." I say starting to get frustrated. WIth one gulp Kamui finally turned the knob and opened the Pairs of eyes soon looked at us when we came into the room. One was Morikawa, one was what I guessed was the doctor, and the other was a lady I didn't even recognize. Morikawa was sitting up in a bed looking at us. He looked fine, in fact he was smiling and looked like he was never hurt... Well, minus the bruise on his cheek. The woman was sitting on a chair and she was smiling as well.

"Hey guys!" Morikawa greeted.

"Hello Morikawa." Kourin smiled. I see as Morikawa tries to hide his blush. But it's an obvious that he can't hide that.

"So, uh, what exactly happened?" Aichi asked. I'm surprised. Aichi hasn't said anything the entire way here. Well I'm glad he's talking now. Morikawa sighed.

"MIght as well take a seat. Because it will take me a while to explain even if it isn't in detail." Morikawa says pointing to the stacked up chairs in the corner of the room.

"Just take it easy and don't get too excited telling the story." The doctor chuckled putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Ok." Morikawa said to the doctor. He then turned back to us as we all got seats and sat down. Once we were all situated in our seats Morikawa began. "Well, as you guys know I said yesterday that I was going to go to Kai's house to work on a school project. I did obviously. But once I got about another house away from his I heard a shatter of glass and a scream. So I picked up my speed and quickly went into his house. Well… that guy that we saw yesterday in the house, when we brought Kai to his home after he passed out suddenly? Well that guy was…" Morikawa was soon cut off by the woman.

"Wait what? WHen and Why did he pass out?" THe woman asked sounding a bit protective.

"Uh… well he was kind of hallucinating and passed out in the middle of it." Morikawa answered. The woman sighed as she got herself comfortable in her seat again. WHo is she? And why is she reminding me of Kai? She doesn't act much like him so what is it? "Anyways, that guy was actually his father. And Harumi here is his mother." We all pretty much gasp at this. We had all thought Kai had lost his parents when he was a kid! Morikawa noticed out surprised faces. "I know. I was surprised too when I found out. But it's true." Morikawa chuckled. "Ok back to the story. I got there and I came in and his father was beating Kai with his belt. And he kept punching, kicking, slashing, and throwing Kai. I then tried to stop him but it didn't work. He just grabbed me and punched me in the face a couple of time. That's why there's a bruise on my cheek. But then he took out a knife. He was about to slash me with it and I was kind of in a semi-corner with the kitchen counter, the wall, and Kai and the couch. Kai then tried to tell me I wasn't going to be able to win against him because he was too strong. But I kept going and his father came rushing at me with the knife and had it ready to bring down on me. I watched and it was about to hit me but it didn't... Because of Kai… Kai had jumped in front of me before the knife could hit me, and instead the knife gashed his side. He fell to the ground and clenched his side. I quickly looked around and found a plug in microwave. I took the microwave and chucked it at the father's head because he was about to finish Kai off, if you know what I mean. That brought me some time until he decided to charge at me then. So I ran around the house while he was chasing me and I called the police while I was running. Then after I hung up I turned another corner in the house but ended up running into a closet door. I fell but I got an idea. So I stood up waited and opened the closet door at the last sodend when he turned the corner as well. I trapped him in the closet. It only locks form the outside and locks on the inside. So he wasn't able to escape. I went to Kai after that and tried to keep him awake until the police and paramedics came but he did go unconcious before they got there. And blah blah blah you guys practically saw the rest of it." Morikawa explained. What! What type of father would do that to his own son!? Poor Kai! I look over and notice the other bed in the room. One bed was Morikawa's and the other one is Kai's. I don't think anyone actually noticed the other bed in the room because no one had looked over int hat direction. But I look in the bed and see Kai laying there peacefully asleep. His chest rising and falling in a gentle steady manner. I sit there and look at Kai's figure. I see the cut that they had to stitch up on his nose. I can also see his torso is all wrapped up. The covers of the bed arn't completely cover him. Only half way, I'm guessing so the doctors can get to Kai's body faster and don't have to worry about the covers getting in the way. But Kai has no shirt on but is still covered. He is covered by the wrapping. It just looked like a sleeveless shirt. I can now see his arms and just the top part of his chest. IThe wrap starts right under the arms so it's overlapping some of his chest. Wow… Now I see why he always wears long sleaves and nothing above his forearms. There are many noticable scars all across his arms. And I see that there is a forearm cast on his right hand. He must have broken it during the fight. "I see Misaki saw already." Morikawa chuckled.

"Huh?" I saw at the sound of my name. Morikawa chuckled again.

"You're the only one that has spotted Kai so far. I just wasn't going tos ay anything until one of you guys saw him. And in that case it's you Misaki." Morikawa explained. Everyone else started to look around the room and soon found Kai's bed. They all had surprised looks on their faces. Probably one of the most noticeable things is his eye. It has a large black and blue coloring surrounding it. He had somehow gotten a black eye from all of that chaos Morikawa told us about.

"I'm going to go get something to drink. Do any of you want one?" Harumi asks us. She is very kind and generous. NOthing like Kai's father.

"No, thank you." I say politely as others in the room say the same. Harumi smiles, nods, and leaves the room. We watch as she leaves the room and there is a sort of awkward silence. But that was soon broken. We soon hear a slight groan. I quickly look over at the direction it was coming from. It was Kai. He was waking up! We all get anxious as his eyes twitch open. He lays there staring upward at the ceiling. He takes his left hand and rubs his head and yawns. Man he looks exhausted.

"Good afternoon, sleepyhead." Morikawa chuckled to Kai. Kai looked over with his tired and just waking up eyes. Kai looks at Morikawa. I don't think he's fully comprehended where he is or who he's looking at yet. "You were asleep for a while, man. But I don't blame you." Morikawa smiled with his usually half smirk.

"Mori...kawa?" Kai said. He's definitely now starting to process that it's him. Soon his eyes fill with remembrance of the person before him. "Morikawa." He says looking at Morikawa as the very slightest of smiles starts to form. It was very hard to notice but I noticed. Kai smiles at Morikawa. But right then his smile quickly disappeared and his eyes quickly went wide. He suddenly starts to look around quickly and is starting to panic. He sits up quickly and tries to back up in the bed. ONly to grip his side as a pain shot through him. The doctor quickly went to the panicking boys side. He put his hands on his shoulders. "W-where is he!?" Kai says looking around frantically.

"Toshiki! It's ok! You're alright! He's not here! He isn't going to hurt you! There is no way he will be able to now so you don't have to worry. Calm down, everything will be ok." The doctor said shaking his slightly in the beginning but moved into a soothing hold. Kai calmed down as he looked around the room and finally realized where he was. He looked into the doctors comforting eyes. "YOu'll be alright. That's a guarantee, alright." The doctor smiled and said gently. I can tell that Kai was seriously thinking this through. I mean first he was being abused and hurt and now suddenly he's going to be ok and it isn't going to happen again. I would understand his shock and thoughts. Kai slowly nodded. "Good. Now you have to take it easy alright. YOu have a slight concussion like your friend here but neither are too bad. You just have to take it easy for a couple of days alright." The doctor smiled. Kai nodded again. I can tell that Kai is still uneasy and unsure about the doctor's statement of he was safe.

"How you feeling Kai?" Morikawa asked.

"Eh, Ok I guess." Kai shrugs. He looks down at himself. He looks his cast up and down not exactly phased by it. Putting it down he looks down at his body. His eyes go wide and blush starts to form. Quickly he tries to grab he covers of the bed and pull them up. We chuckle.

"Kai, it's ok. You're covered you don't have to worry about that." Miwa says chuckling. Kai still has a major blush going on. It's actually kind of funny seeing Kai blush.

"You broke, like three ribs and you had some cuts all over your back and a big gash in your side, so we just wrapped your torso up and it covered all the cuts and injuries." The doctor explained. But no matter what the doctor said Kai still blushed. I wouldn't blame him. He doesn't have a shirt on and only has wrap around his body. Well, at least I know he's a modest man. THat's good.

"So, uh… how long was I out?" Kai asked awkwardly.

"About five hours. You passed out in your house then it took an hour until they actually were able to take you into surgery, then they had to make sure you were going to stay asleep for that, then it took another half an hour or so for the surgery, then they took you here and you were just sleeping they said. They said before they took you into surgery that you were unconscious like you had passed out but by the time you came out of surgery they checked you again and said you were just unconscious like everyone is when they are sleeping. Because well… You were asleep." Morikawa said.

"Oh. What did I have surgery on?" Kai Asked confused.

"We had to stitch your side gash back up, stitch the cut on your nose, and we had to operate on your hand to set it back into place. It was all twisted and mangled when you came in and it was the type of break you can't just set without surgery. So unless you count the stitching up your cuts part, then you only had surgery on your hand/wrist." The doctor said. Kai looked at his wrist and nodded.

"Well, it might be a little hard for me to play Vanguard. But I'll manage somehow." Kai chuckled under his breath. I'm glad Kai's ok. He doesn't seem that phased about being here. And I like he how he still has his passion for Vanguard even in this condition. I soon hear the light sound of a door opening. I turn my head around and see that Harumi had come back into the room. I'm not the only one who noticed. The only other people who did notice though were Morikawa and the doctor. Morikawa smirked but it was a friendly smirk.

"Hey Kai." Morikawa said getting his attention.

"Yeah?" Kai replied looking at Morikawa. I know what Morikawa's going to do. This is going to be sweet.

"Well, let's just say there is someone here to see you. And I think you are going to be pretty surprised at who it is." Morikawa's friendly smirk slowly turned into a smile. Kai tilted his head in confusion. Harumi hadn't said anything because she knew what Morikawa was going to do as well and wanted to see what would happen. Morikawa gestured over to the side to the direction that Harumi was in.

(Kai's POV)

I tilt my head in confusion. What? Morikawa that has to be one of the most randomest things you have ever said. Right then he gestures to the side. Still confused I slowly looked over to where he gestured to. What I see makes my heart stop a little. My eyes widen at who I see. It's her... Her blonde hair, green eyes, kind face… Mom. She looks at me and she smiles widely. I can't believe this! I start to feel tears sting the corners of my eyes. I try to keep myself from crying. But for this reason I don't know why but I can't hold them in. She sees me and comes up. I just sit there for a moment looking at her. When she gets to the side of the bed we stay there and look at each other. We stay like this for a small moment. But soon before I knew it, we were in each others' arms. I wrap my arms around her as she does the same. My face is buried into her shoulder. I can't let the tears be held back anymore. They silently start to fall down my cheeks and making small wet spots on her shirt. We stay in the hug for a while. It's been so long since I've seen her. I can't believe it's her. Not even knowing a start to smile.

"Mom." I sniff. It was the only thing I could say. I was so lost in words and she was the only thing in my mind right now. She soothingly rubs her hand in circles on my back in a comforting motion.

"Yes, Toshiki. It's me." Mom says smiling. We finally pull away. Although I wish we hadn't. I have not seen her for years now. Ever since my parents were forced to be seperated, my father has never allowed me to talk, call, or even see my mother. My father forced me to make people believe that I had lost my parents and was adopted. Wait! All of my friends know now! Oh no what's my Dad going to do if he finds out! My mom must have noticed me get a little uneasy. "Toshiki, are you alright?" Mom asks putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Huh? O-Oh, uh…" I don't know what to say! I don't know if I should tell her or not!

"Come on. Tell me what's wrong." Mom softly says. I guess it looks like I'm telling her… great.

"Um… well, you see, when we were separated Dad forced me to tell people that I was adopted and had lost you guys when I was a kid. And now since they are here they know that you're my mom and they know Dad… What's he going to do?" I can't help but feel scared. I can only imagine what he will do to me.

"It's alright. Your father won't be able to even talk to you anymore let alone touch you. He was arrested and taken to jail. They didn't need a court session to say he was guilty. Your appearance and Morikawa's appearance was enough proof for them. So he's gone now and won't be able to come anywhere near you. You're safe now." Mom smiled. I-I'm safe? Finally after so many years I'm actually safe now? I suddenly start to feel tears streaming out of my eyes. Mom sees this and moves her chair closer to the bed. "Shh. It's ok. What's wrong now?" Mom asks.

"I-I…" I try to say something but It's hard to talk while crying like this. IT's very embarrassing to have all my friends see me like this but I can't exactly help it right now. "He said if I ever told anyone or if anyone found out h-he was going to…" I can't finish the sentence. I was already having trouble talking and trying to get the words to come out but the rest of this sentence was the hardest for me to finish.

"Going to what?" Mom asked and listened. I bring my knees to my chest and wrap my arms around them for comfort. I shudder at the images that are flying through my head. The images of him beating me. The knife, his hand, the belt, and anything else he had used to beat me with in the past.

"...going to… kill me…" I choke out. The last part was very quiet but somehow everyone heard it. I hear two or three gasps and my Mom sighed. "And he was so close." I add on quietly as I burry my head in my knees. It was true. He was so close to ending me but every time it got close he kept it going.

"Well you won't have to worry about that now. He's gone and you'll be ok now. You are safe with me." Mom said pulling me in close. She wraps her arms around me. I start to cry harder again. Why am I crying so much? I never cry unless it's in the middle of Dad beating me. SO why am I now? Maybe because it's the first time seeing her for years and the fact that I am suddenly free and safe from HIM. I don't know if I can even call him Dad anymore. He's never really acted like one to me. IT was just like a stranger was in my house each time I come home. I just kept calling him that just in fear that he might do something to me if I didn't call him that. He did actually one time. I accidentally slipped and called him by his name instead of 'Dad' and he got after me about it. So it because of that that I still call him 'Dad'. "Now, look at me." Mom says looking down at me. I raise my head from my knees and I look at her. "I am always going to be here for you now. I've tried to be there as much as I could when we were seperated but now I can be here for you always. Don't cry. It'll be alright. I'll protect you from him no matter what. I will be here with you." Mom whispers to me so no one else would hear. But she smiled the whole time. Seeing her smile brought back so many good memories. She would take me out as a kid and we would just have fun and play around. Laugh. Smile. Play. Anything you can think of that's fun we did. Remembering back to those memories as I see her smiling face made my attention leave myself and focus on her. I didn't even realized i had been smiling. I look over at the rest of the room only to see many empty seats. I get a confused look on my face. I could have sworn there were people in here. The doctor soon came up to me and Mom.

"They all stepped out of the room. They wanted to give you two some time alone and they didn't want to interfere with anything. They left about halfway through. They were all just taken back and didn't think of leaving you two alone until a little later. But they left just in case there was something they weren't supposed to hear or something like that. And I promise I won't tell a single soul about any of this." THe doctor smiled putting a hand up as a sign of saying he would not tell anyone what he just heard. HE was the only one who had heard all of the conversation. Well Him and Morikawa but he was trying not to listen in just in case. He wasn't aloud to leave the room because he too was still recovering. But he did hear the whole conversation.

"I promise too." Morikawa said also putting his hand up. I smile at the two. I then look at Mom. We sit there and look at each other for a second but then suddenly have a small laughing moment. We don't know why we're laughing. We just looked at each other and laughed. I guess it's laughter of happiness. The doctor went over to the door and told everyone that they could come back in. I watch as my friends walk into the room and back to their seats. They acted as though they had never left the room and just pretended they were all just hanging out. We all just start to talk. We start to talk about some really random things and some not so random things.

Soon the door opens and a man rushes into the room. I watch him wide eyed as he suddenly comes into the room without warning.

"Sorry I'm late! After you called me I tried to get here as fast as I could! But I had a heck of a time with the traffic!" He said to my Mom. It was Uncle Isamu! Uncle Isamu grabs a chair and sits down by the bed along side with my Mom. I smile as I can't believe he's here. I chuckle slightly as I see everyones' face that goes to the same school. WHich that would be Kamui but he's in the middle school division, Morikawa, Izaki, and Miwa. They all look at him weirdly and curiously.

"Who are you?" Izaki asks.

"Wait a second! Aren't you the janitor at my school!? You are!" Kamui says in realization. "Why exactly are you here?" Kamui asked not in a rude way but in a curious fashion. Uncle Isamu chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Miwa asked.

"That question. That's what's funny. And to answer that, Yes I am your janitor. I'm your janitor, Kamui, and Morikawa, Izaki, and Miwa." Uncle Isamu said with a smirk. All four tf them stiffened. THis is very entertaining.

"How do you know our names?" MOrikawa asks shocked. Uncle Isamu just laughs.

"Oh I have my ways! Anyways, why I'm here is because Harumi called me. And the reason why I know Harumi is because she is my little sister. And I'm Toshiki's Uncle." Uncle Isamu smirked nudging Mom lightly. She smirked as well but it looked more like a smile and she rolled her eyes nudging him back.

"Yeah you're older by a year, that's not that much." Mom playfully said looking at Uncle Isamu. Morikawa, Miwa, Kamui, and Izaki's faces were hilarious. They could not believe that he was my uncle. I chuckle as I see their faces. Uncle Isamu then looks at me.

"Well, Toshiki, looks like you'll be needing that brace a little longer than you thought huh?" Uncle Isamu joked.

"Oh nah. I'll just go around with a few sticks tied to my wrist and just use that as a brace. I don't need no fancy hand/wrist brace." I jokingly say pretending to wave it off. Uncle Isamu laughed. "I still can't believe you had a random hand/wrist brace in your bag, Uncle Isamu." I chuckle.

"Yep! I was just too lazy to put it away so I just stuffed it in my bag. And I guess it's a good thing I did. But you still manage to break your wrist." Uncle Isamu smiles. Everyone is still surprised that Uncle ISamu is my Uncle. I raise an eyebrow.

"Oh come on guys. It isn't that surprising is it?" I ask them.

"Uh yeah it is actually. Our school janitor just suddenly bursts into the room, knows our names, and tells us he's your uncle? THat's pretty surprising to me considering I have had no verbal contact with him before." Miwa says.

"Haha I've talked to Toshiki before at school. He's told me about you guys so that's how I know your names. Yep. Toshiki's a fun guy, isn't that right." Uncle Isamu said ruffling my hair like I was still a little kid. I just try to move my head away from his hand. This caused the room to laugh. IF it were just me and him and Mom alone that wouldn't bother me but when it's in front of all of my friends… it's just a little embarrassing. Well, Uncle Isamu is known for embarrassing me a lot. I look over at my friends. And surprisingly this is the first time I notice Morikawa was actually in the bed beside me. I raise an eyebrow.

"Why are you in the bed?" I ask Morikawa. Morikawa looks down at the bed then back up to me.

"Oh yeah. I was there with you before we came here and your father kind of kept punching me in the face and I got a small concussion like you so they are making me stay here until it's gone and i can go home. So I'm going to your room mate here for a while. Might as well get used to me being here because you're stuck with me." Morikawa smirked.

"Oh yeah, that's right. I forgot about that. Well, then I guess we are roommates for a while." I smile looking back at Morikawa. I then think of something. My smile disappeared and I look at Mom.

"What?" Mom asks me.

"Well… I can't live with Dad anymore. I'm going to be living with you… Where are we going to live? Am I moving with you back to where you live?" I ask. I don't know what to say after this question. If I move with my Mom back to whereever she was living before I might not see my friends again, either that or barely see them. What other options are there really? But much to my surprise Mom smiles.

"AFter I heard what had happened. I knew it was going to be ME that was going to take care of you. And I knew you would have friends and family here that you were used to. I didn't want to take any of that away from you, so I packed up the small apartment I was living in and got a house down here so you can stay with your friends and not have to move away. I haven't moved my stuff into the house yet but I'm going to have Isamu here help me with that. And then we have to go back to the old house and get your things and take them over to the new house. Sorry it's going to be a small house again. It's not a big house,yet it's not as small as the first one. The one you and your father were living in. So we are both going to be moving but not that far. Only like a block or two from the other house." Mom says. I'm totally surprised and taken back. All I can do is sit there shocked. A smile spreads on my face as I am relieved that I'm going to be able to stay with my friends.

"Say what now? I'm helping you move into a new house? SInce when did I go from a janitor to a guy who helps people move into new homes?" Uncle Isamu jokes.

"Yeah well get used to it." Mom teases gently shoving him with her hand. Wow I can definitely see the sister brother relationship those two have. IT's actually pretty funny.

"Thanks." I say to Mom. She nods and smiles. All of us talk, joke, and laugh. I don't think I have ever been this happy before. All my life that I can remember I have never been this happy. I was always either beaten or forced to go to my room. Most of the time without anything to eat. But when I'm at school I alway grab a few extra bread slices and and apple or something because most nights I have to go without food. I don't know how this is going to be like now. I'm going to suddenly be living a good life with my Mom rather than a horrible life with my Dad like I'm used to. This is going to take some time getting used to. Anyways we all get to talking about random things. It's fun to finally be able to talk with everyone without the feeling of threats and danger to worry about. Kamui is still looking at Uncle ISamu in disbelief that he's my uncle. Well I don't blame him. I was surprised myself when Uncle Isamu told me he was my uncle. I hadn't seen him… well, talked to him… for many years. I've seen him around because he's also my janitor but I never talked to him until I ran into the janitor's closet. Then I finally talked to him. I felt so stupid though because I didn't even recognize him until then. But he is a pretty forgiving man. So he didn't mind. The doctor then came up the side of my bed.

"I think you two have had enough excitement for today. Before and after the concussions. You two should rest." The doctor chuckled seeing as both me and Morikawa looked exhausted. I not only look exhausted but I feel exhausted. I can tell Morikawa is the same way. We look at each other and soon agree. We all said our goodbyes, everyone left except my Mom she stayed for a while, and Morikawa and I soon fell a sleep. I think I fell asleep sooner than him though. I just lay there and let my eyes fall shut.

(Harumi's POV)

It has been about a week and a half since the incident at the house. Toshiki and Morikawa were able to leave the hospital about four days after it happened. The doctors said that Toshiki should be kept home and not be out doing a stuff on account of his ribs and side gash. The side gash has healed up a good bit but still requires a bandage. The cuts on his back have healed for the most part. ANd his ribs are going to take a little more time to heal but they are healing at the pace they are supposed to. They said he should have his cast on for another three weeks then move to a wrist brace, like the one Isamu apprently gave Toshiki. Isamu helped me move in and we both went over to the old house and got Toshiki's things from his room and brought them down to the new house. But when I got within ten feet of the house I could smell a really horrific smell that made me gag. I knew exactally what it was and I must say that I'm very disappointed in my X-husband. When I get into the house I can see pools of dried blood on the floor and even peices of torn fabric soaking in the blood. I know it's Toshiki's shirt fabric that's laying in the blood. And I know that that blood is indeed my sons. I can hardly bear to look at it but for some reason something is making me look at it. No one is physically making me but something mentaly. I can only imagine what my son was feeling and what he looked like. They told me that his whole back was covered in blood, beer, and sweat. His gash in his side was bloody and the cut on his nose was almost making a blood mask on his face. I look over and see a microwave on the floor. I chuckle to myself as I remember Morikawa saying he had thrown the small metal object at his head. I suddenly feel a hand on my shoulder. I look over and see Isamu there with saddened eyes as he too looked at the blood and fabric on the floor. There was even some on the counter and the walls around it. I look at my brother ans we both head upstairs. When we get there we search each of the room until we got to Toshiki's room. When We got there we opened the door and walked into the nicest smelling room in the entire house. I see a bed, a desk, a dresser, a nightstand and a closet in the room. There on the dresser was a few small nic-naks, a Mirror, a hand make necklace that I gave him when he was a small child, and a picture. That picture was of him, his father, and me. We all sat on a blanket and smiled. I smile as I remember that day. We had so much fun and it was before his father went insane. Toshiki was about four almost five in this picture. Anyways on his nightstand was an alarm clock, a book, and a small box. Curious I pick up the box and slide out what was in side of it. A deck of cards slides into my hands. I take my time and look through the cards. When I see the cards I see that it's a Vanguard deck. I roam through the cards until I land a certain one. It was a Dragonic Overlord card. But not any Dragonic Overlord. THAT Dragonic Overlord. When he was five I had gotten this card and given it to him for his birthday. The first few months of having it wouldn't let it leave his sight. He was always looking at it and asked so many questions of what it was, what it did, and many other questions. I smile at the image of Toshiki's face when I handed him the card. That little card seemed to mean the whole world to him. He would tell me about weird dreams he had had of the 'Amazing Dragonic OVerlord', as he would put it. I laugh slightly sliding the cards back into it's box. I'm surprised he still has the card.

Isamu and I gather up everything in the room that was his and we took it back to the new house. We had already gotten most of the furniture in the house. All that was really left for int he house was Toshiki's things. So Isamu and I got the stuff and when we walked through the door we found Toshiki lying on the couch relaxing with his eyes closed. We quietly go up stairs and set his room up. We went back down and told Toshiki we had gotten his stuff and put it in his room. IT had only been his first day back home from the hospital so he was still tired. But he was grateful that his room was there now.

The first few days back home have been rough. I would usually find Toshiki waking up in the middle of the night gasping, sweating, crying, or screaming. All about the same thing. I would sit on his bed and comfort him until he settled down enough to sleep again. It was just like it had been when he had continuous nightmares when he was a kid. But now he's sixteen almost seventeen yet it's still the same as it had been. Except he was not just dreaming something imaginary, but something real. It was the continuous beatings and cruelty he had gotten that was coming back to haunt him. I can tell he wasn't used to not living with his father quite yet, and he wants to get used to it but it was hard for him to train himself to say he wasn't going to hurt him anymore. He's starting to get used to it now and seems to be happier and smiling a lot more than he did when he first moved in with me. That's good.

Whenever Toshiki and I need help or when I need a strong man to do something for me that I can't do, we call my brother Isamu. I'm not saying Toshiki isn't strong, it's just he can't do much right this instance because the doctors said he had to stay resting in order for his ribs to heal properly. Toshiki hasn't been quite in favor of not doing that much but he does it anyways.

One time I came home from doing something and it was dinner time. I invited Isamu over for dinner and made dinner for all three of us. WHen it was ready I didn't see Toshiki down with us. I went up to his room and asked why he wasn't coming down for dinner. He sat on his bed and looked confused for a second but then a spark of realization goes off. He said that when he was still living with his father that he would go to bed almost every night without anything to eat. His father would hit him and tell him that he wouldn't have any food that night and send him to his room. He was used to not having any dinner. But I told him he should get into the custom of having dinner again. I walked down with him and we alls sat at the table. When I came to the hospital to see him, I saw that he was incredibly thin. I was always wondering why, then that night came where he didn't come down for dinner and he told me why. Well I'm determined to get him living like a teenaged boy should be living. And that means with care, love, fun, and happiness. The way he had been living before was the complete opposite and I want to change that. And I will change that. Isamu will be there to help us. That's what he said and if I know Isamu, which I do, I know that he would never lie.

So these past few days now have been going pretty well. Toshiki's nightmares started to lighten up and they aren't affecting him as much as they used to. We've talked a lot and we still are. But even though we have talked a lot we still have a lot of catching up to do. And I'm not one of those Moms that is so skeptical about everything, I'm the type of Mom who wants to be with their kid and have fun. And make sure we both have fun. Toshiki seems to be having fun. I tell stories of stuff that had happened to me over the years that were funny and occasionally embarrassing. Toshiki laughed at the stories, and I'm glad. Toshiki actually got me into playing a game. I have made my own deck a while ago but never used it. But now I can. Vanguard. Toshiki taught me all of the rules and actually told me the story of when he taught his good friend Aichi Sendou how to play Vanguard. I caught on to the game pretty quickly and did a few surprise jump attacks on Toshiki's Vanguard. It was really fun. When we weren't doing anything else we would play Vanguard. We laughed as we played enjoying every bit of it. Sometimes he would win, sometimes I would win. SOme nights we would get out the Vanguard table and play. I would ride up the next grade and Toshiki would add a rear regard or two. I would check the twin drive and he would attack. He taught me many skills, like the Limit Break, Break Ride, Legion, Counter Blasts, and many others. I sat there with my cards in my hand ready to for his move. He drew a card. He looked at it and smiled. With this he held it high.

"I ride the Vanguard! Dragonic Overlord!" Toshiki announces as he rides Dragonic Overlord. I smile. I look up at him and see him smiling right back at me. That was his card. His main and favorite card. His Vanguard. That's my Toshiki. My son.


End file.
